Swift scores hat trick in memory of Grandfather, Harold
Adam Swift’s hat trick, six days after his grandfather Harold died, helped St Helens to a comfortable 62-0 victory over Widnes.
Harold Swift was one of the founding fathers of the British Amateur Rugby League Association, and would have been proud of his grandson as he made his home debut at Langtree Park.
A minutes silence was held before this game in his memory, and the Saints team did their team mate proud with a 11 try thrashing.
Sia Soliola crossed for the first of St Helen’s tries after 10 minutes. The ball was passed along the line to Paul Wellens who fed Soliola. He dummied the Widnes left flank to score in the corner.
Wellens grabbed a try for himself shortly after. The ball was passed inside to the former England international who raced the short distance to touch down for Saints’ second in less than five minutes.
Anthony Laffranchi scored two quick tries, both from short range, to put the Saints 22-0 up with less than 25 minutes played. The writing looked to be on the wall for Denis Betts’ side.
St Helens set up their fifth try of the evening in flamboyant style. James Roby’s pass sent Jonny Lomax through a wide hole. However the Widnes defence scrambled together and Lomax was forced to offload to Lance Hohaia. Hohaia found Francis Meli in space before he passed inside back to Roby.
Roby was brought down but Saints had the momentum. Adam Swift scored his first in the corner.
Saints didn’t let their foot off the gas for Widnes in the second half, as Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook jumped and caught a chip kick on the Widnes line. Despite losing his balance upon landing, the former Harlequins man was able to ground the ball.
Andrew Dixon, Michael Shenton and Mark Flanagan scored quick consecutive tries to take St Helens to over the 50 point mark.
Then it was Swift’s turn to shine. His first came on the back of Francis Meli’s intercept. Meli was brought down 40 metres short of the Widnes try line, however later in the set of six Swift was gifted a gap in the Viking’s defence and touched down for his second.
His hat trick try came in the corner on the back of some slick passing which capped off a few bitter sweet days for the 19-year old.
St Helens scores: Tries – Soliola, Wellens, Laffranchi (2), Swift (3), McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Dixon, Shenton, Flanagan. Goals – Lomax 9/11
St Helens: Wellens; Swift, Shenton, Jones, Meli; Hohaia, Lomax; Laffranchi, Roby, Magennis; Flannery, Soliola, Flanagan. Subs: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Clough, Dixon, Forster.
Widnes: Phelps; Flynn, Marsh, Isa, Ah Van; Craven, Mellor; Cross, Clarke, Pickersgill; Haggerty, Winterstein, Cahill. Subs: White, Allen, Leuluai, Mullally.
Half time: 22-0
Attendance: 14,243
Referee: Tim Roby
Leeds defeated Catalan Dragons 34-18 at Headingley.
Ben Jones-Bishop scored two tries for the Rhinos in a comfortable victory.
Shaun Lunt scored on his Leeds debut after being loan out by Hudddersfield. Ryan Hall, Zak Hardaker and Ryan Bailey touched down for the home side.
Catalan were expected to put up a much better fight, but they scored tries thanks to Louis Anderson, Steve Menzies and Leon Pyce.