St Helens continue building momentum in derby thrashing of Wigan

The St Helens full-back, Jack Welsby, produced an attacking masterclass on his 100th appearance for the club, as the reigning Super League champions dismantled local rivals Wigan to add further fuel to their quest for a fifth consecutive league title.

Welsby, undisputedly one of the finest talents the British game has produced for years, marked his latest career milestone with a scintillating display, scoring two tries and assisting three others as Saints continued to emerge from the shadows of their early-season slump. They have now won five games in succession in all competitions and are just two points shy of Catalans at the top.

They were far too good for the Warriors here in Super League’s biggest game, and the Warriors have now lost four of their last five league games. Here, they could have no complaints about the result but the fact they were so comprehensively outclassed by the Saints, led by the mercurial Welsby, will have been difficult to take for Matt Peet and his side.

In a typically ferocious derby atmosphere, it was Saints who struck first after just three minutes when Welsby’s well-timed pass sent Joe Batchelor over to put the hosts 6-0 ahead: but Welsby was soon in the game for the wrong reasons defensively.

With Wigan’s first meaningful attack, they levelled matters after Harry Smith spotted Welsby marginally out of position at full-back, and Smith’s pinpoint kick was collected by Jai Field, who outpaced Welsby to ground next to the posts and give Smith a simple conversion to make it 6-6. Goal-kicking appeared as though it would be crucial from an early stage, underlined by two missed penalties from Tommy Makinson shortly after which would have put Saints ahead.

But Makinson would soon atone for that