ST HELENS enjoyed an excellent 4-34 victory at Wakefield Trinity which delighted head coach Paul Wellens.
However it came at a cost to their forward pack, with Curtis Sironen failing a head-injury assessment and Jake Wingfield coming off early in the second half.
“The effort and application again was first class,” said Wellens.
“We dealt with some adversity, losing Curtis and then his replacement Jake Wingfield. Credit to the players for the way they handled that. It might have been excuse to drop your standards, but not for this team.
“In recent weeks they’ve been living up to those standards. It’s a really enjoyable team to coach.
“The 34-4 scoreline wasn’t a true reflection of how the tough game was. We nailed a few opportunities at the start of the game and some at the back end of the game which gave the scoreline a good look for us, but tonight was more about our endeavour.”
On Wingfield’s injury, he added: “It’s around his ankle or shin. He felt a pop or crack sensation, which could indicate a number of different things.
“I’d prefer not to speculate on what that is, we need to get the information through a scan.
”It doesn’t look good. We’re not sure of the extent but he’s in a fair bit of pain. We’ll get our arms around him and support him as best we can.”
Saints prop George Delaney was shown the yellow card for a high tackle with his shoulder on Lachlan Walmsley in the first half.
“Go back twelve months or so when laws changed it would have been a red,” acknowledged Wellens. “But it’s not a red from what we’ve seen over the course of 2025.
“The player was dipping. I accept it was a high tackle. The player remains on, which indicates a low level of force. George quite rightly gets ten minutes and nothing more.”