ST HELENS 40 CATALANS DRAGONS 0
ROB WALLACE, Totally Wicked Stadium, Thursday
GEORGE WHITBY scored a hat-trick as St Helens put seven tries past a poor Catalans side to ease the pressure on coach Paul Wellens.
St Helens were looking to bounce back from their 4-17 defeat to Leeds at the Magic Weekend two weeks ago and they showed just how beneficial their week off had been.
In contrast, Catalans were playing their third game in England in succession after losing a Challenge Cup semi-final to Hull KR five days prior.
Ahead of the game, both sides sat on ten points, only separated by points difference – though on this performance the two sides looked light years apart as St Helens delivered a demolition of the dreadful Dragons.
Saints looked to shift the ball early, and they enjoyed immediate success as Tristan Sailor broke down field.
The makeshift winger drew the fullback and offloaded to the supporting Whitby who dived over to open the scores. Whitby converted to give the hosts an early six-point advantage.
It’s easy to say that Saints were in the ascendancy. A drop-out forced by a great Jack Welsby chase allowed the home side to attack the Catalans line and a flick pass from Daryl Clark close to the Dragons line found its way into Alex Walmsley’s hands and the England prop charged over to score. Whitby converted to double the Saints’ lead.
Catalans worked their way back into the game over the course of the half with Luke Keary and Théo Fages combining to see Mathieu Laguerre go close but stout St Helens defence kept the visitors at bay.
As it was, Deon Cross extended Saints’ lead to 18 points four minutes before the break as Jonny Lomax attacked down the the left and Cross dummied and darted for the line, touching down ten metres in from the corner. Whitby added the conversion.
But the home side weren’t finished there and with the hooter ready to sound, the ever-impressive Mark Percival charged onto a Welsby drop-off and broke through the Catalans line with ease before finding the supporting Whitby who stepped Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet at the back to touch down. Whitby converted to give the hosts a 24-0 lead at the break.
It was one way traffic after the break but it took 13 minutes before Saints broke through, with smart play down the right seeing Percival flick a pass out to Sailor who touched down in the corner for a deserved try. Whitby added the conversion to take the score to 30-0.
Saints extended the lead to 34 points twelve minutes from time, Lomax and Welsby combining to haul the ball to the left and Cross sent Murphy over to score acrobatically in the left corner. Whitby missed his touchline conversion effort.
Completing his hat-trick, Whitby supported Walmsley close to the Catalans line and dived over to score the simplest of tries to the right of the posts. The halfback duly converted to take Saints’ advantage to 40 points.
The challenge for Saints was to try and keep the Catalans to zero and outstanding defence on their own line prevented a rampaging Tevita Pangai Jr and Jordan Dezaria from scoring and Sailor prevented Nick Cotric from touching down Keary’s kick to the corner with two minutes remaining.
GAMESTAR: George Whitby registered 24 points in a performance that belied his youthful years.
GAMEBREAKER: Two quick-fire Saints tries before half-time left Catalans with a 24-0 hill to climb.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: Lewis Murphy’s acrobatic finish was something to behold.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts George Whitby (St Helens)
2 pts Jack Welsby (St Helens)
1 pt Tristan Sailor (St Helens)
MATCHFACTS
SAINTS
1 Jack Welsby
6 Tristan Sailor
36 Deon Cross
4 Mark Percival
20 Lewis Murphy
27 George Whitby
7 Jonny Lomax
8 Alex Walmsley
9 Daryl Clark
10 Matty Lees
11 Curtis Sironen
16 Matt Whitley
13 Morgan Knowles
Subs (all used)
14 Moses Mbye
17 Agnatius Paasi
18 Jake Wingfield
19 George Delaney
18th man (not used)
30 Owen Dagnall
Also in 21-man squad
5 Jon Bennison
21 Noah Stephens
23 Jake Burns
Tries: Whitby (3, 39, 73), Walmsley (8), Cross (36), Sailor (53), Murphy (68)
Goals: Whitby 6/7
DRAGONS
26 Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet
22 Fouad Yaha
23 Matthieu Laguerre
4 Reimis Smith
5 Nick Cotric
6 Luke Keary
21 Théo Fages
15 Tevita Satae
14 Alrix Da Costa
16 Romain Navarrete
19 Paul Séguier
17 Bayley Sironen
13 Oliver Partington
Subs (all used)
3 Arthur Romano
8 Tevita Pangai Jr
11 Tariq Sims
20 Jordan Dezaria
18th man (not used)
18 César Rougé
Also in 20-man squad
28 Clément Martin
30 Giovanni Descalzi
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 18-0, 24-0; 30-0, 34-0, 40-0
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Saints: George Whitby; Dragons: Nick Cotric
Penalty count: 4-2
Half-time: 24-0
Referee: Liam Moore
Attendance: 10,337
