The big games are designed for the big players to showcase their talents and to that end, Jack Welsby’s 100th St Helens appearance always had an air of inevitability about it. There has been no doubting for some time that the 22-year-old is one of the finest talents to emerge in British rugby league for years, and nights like these simply underline it.
Super League’s benchmark fixture, the derby between St Helens and Wigan, is often a tight, nerve-shredding affair. This was an exception to that particular rule as the side who have won the last four league titles emphatically displayed that the early-season slump which plagued them is now a thing of the past. They are just two points adrift of the top and have won five in a row in all competitions.
Welsby was at the heart of everything St Helens did well. He had his nervy moments in defence, not least the slip which allowed Bevan French to score midway through the first half. But of the six tries St Helens claimed here, Welsby scored or assisted five of them. Leading 18-10 at half-time, the reigning champions clicked up a gear in the 20 minutes after the break, scoring 16 unanswered points to put the match to bed.
“In a big derby game, the way we went about our business was very impressive,” the victorious head coach, Paul Wellens, said, before heaping praise on Welsby. “I think you saw the quality that he possesses. His quality is undoubted but for such a young player, his maturity is incredible. We’re a team heading in the right direction.”
After a slow start under Wellens, perhaps not aided by their successful trip to Australia to win the World Club Challenge, Saints are hitting the right notes. Welsby’s fine pass for Joe Batchelor broke the deadlock here before he then assisted Tommy Makinson’s first of the evening. Wigan, in response, scored through Jai Field and French but Welsby struck a pivotal blow two minutes from the break when he chipped through, collected his own kick and gave Makinson a simple conversion to make it 18-10.
From there Saints never looked back and by the hour mark they had settled matters with three more tries, thoroughly outclassing Wigan, who are now sixth and have lost four of their last five league games. “I don’t think we did ourselves justice,” their coach, Matt Peet, said. “St Helens were very good and were too powerful. It hurts our fans, and it hurts us.”
In truth, Wigan were powerless to prevent Saints ominously clicking through the gears. Eight minutes after the restart, Agnatius Paasi finished a James Roby break before Welsby cut through for his second. He then turned provider once again, with a magnificent long cut-out ball to give Makinson a walk-in for his second. Suddenly, Saints led 34-10 and in truth, there was no way back for a woefully out-of-sorts Wigan side. They at least registered a late consolation through Abbas Miski but by then their fate had been sealed.
