St Helens clinch 2022 League Leaders’ Shield despite defeat to Wakefield Trinity

Thanks a million, Hull KR! That’s the message from St Helens to the Humbersiders after their 38-28 demolition of Wigan Warriors on Monday.

It meant that the League Leaders’ Shield was heading to the Totally Wicked Stadium with still one fixture remaining, against Toulouse, which now pales into insignificance as far as the result is concerned.

Saints had hoped to clinch the Shield with a victory in front of their own fans but one glance at the teamsheet told its own story and what lay ahead.

Wholesale changes due to suspensions and injuries left a young and inexperienced side threadbare - and it was no real surprise when the ever-improving West Yorkshire outfit cruised to a 34-18 win.

Woolf insisted that  winning the League Leaders’ Shield was a massive story for the club, saying: “It’s an outstanding achievement for this group of men.

“I think with the amount of disruption we’ve had to cope with – and how much of your salary cap is sitting in the grandstand – we make sure they compete every week. Credit must go to the young blokes who stepped in following the lead of the more senior players.

“There were a lot of blokes out there who have played maybe one or two games. I thought we beat ourselves in the first half by making too many errors. It meant we spent too long defending our own line.

“What I was really proud of was the way we came back in the second half. We fought back and showed a lot of effort.”

Young centre Ben Davies scored two of St Helens’ tries with Jon Bennison also touching down, while winger Tommy Makinson kicked three conversions from as many attempts.

Max Jowitt, Corey Hall and Lee Gaskell also crossed over for the visitors, while Woolf singled out Lewis Murphy for praise after his four tries.

He added: “If you take that bloke out of their team, you probably take away three of their tries.”

Wakefield coach Willie Poching said: "It wasn’t our prettiest or flashiest performance but we got the job done.”

St Helens: Bennison; Gilford, Makinson, Davies, Lane; Moss, Archer; McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lussick, Norman, Royle, Bell, Wingfield.

Subs: Baxter, Pemberton, Delaney, Corkill.

Wakefield: Jowitt; Evans, Croft, Gaskell, Murphy; Miller, Walker; Battye, Bowes, Aydin, Hall, Ashurst, Crowther.

Subs: Kay, Butler, Shaw, Adebiyi.

Sin-bin: Gaskell (79)

Referee: Tom Grant