When you are faced with opposition on the level of this St Helens side – arguably the best of the modern era, though that is a discussion for another day – it is those little glimmers of hope which hurt the most. By the end, Wigan’s race in the latest instalment of rugby league’s richest rivalry had long since been run, with a ninth defeat in 10 against their greatest foes from across the Billinge Hill somewhat of a formality.
The final scoreline underlines the dominance St Helens have on everyone else in Super League, and that includes a Wigan side who are almost certainly their greatest obstacle to a fourth consecutive title as things stand. Yet it is just how ruthless the reigning champions are when their backs are against the wall which sets them apart. Wigan had played their part in a thrilling opening quarter, and arguably even deserved to take the lead in front of a sellout crowd of 17,980.
Jai Field’s try which made it 4-0 in the Warriors’ favour had threatened a much closer derby than we ended up with. There would have been cautious optimism, perhaps even hope, among the thousands of travelling Wigan supporters that they could grind out what would have been a famous victory against their great rivals. Throw in the fact that St Helens’s Morgan Knowles, arguably the best forward in Super League, left the field with a head knock and never returned, and you wondered what was in store here.
But in the end, this ruthless, metronomic rugby league juggernaut did what they always do. They responded to those moments of adversity, clicked through the gears and, by the time the full-time hooter had sounded, they had once again underlined their superiority in one-sided fashion. After that Field try, St Helens scored 22 unanswered points either side of half-time to vanquish the hope which may have briefly accrued in the minds of Wigan supporters.
“This group did what they do every week,” Kristian Woolf said. “They hung in, they didn’t get frustrated and eventually we found the points we needed.” Both major derbies on Good Friday went the way of the home sides, with Hull Kingston Rovers further suggesting they are now the dominant club by the banks of the Humber after a deserved 16-4 victory against Hull FC.
Here, Field’s early try put the Warriors ahead but St Helens responded to going behind superbly as Konrad Hurrell’s flick pass sent Tommy Makinson across in the corner. That levelled the scores at 4-4 but, with half-time approaching, St Helens began to up the intensity. As they piled the pressure on the Warriors, it felt like an inevitability when they eventually went ahead as Makinson and Jonny Lomax combined to send the latter across.
Makinson converted, before adding a penalty on half-time to make it 12-4 and, despite a promising start, Wigan suddenly found themselves two scores behind. “When they got opportunities they took them, they were clinical,” Wigan’s coach, Matty Peet, said. “In the second half they were much better and we failed to hold them.” There were only 10 points scored in that second half but they all went St Helens’s way.
The first try after half-time was crucial in the context of the game, and it went to the hosts when Mark Percival teed up Joe Batchelor. Sam Powell was then sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle which could see him banned for an extended period and, when he was off the field, Percival pounced on a loose pass to make absolutely sure that, as it has been so many times in recent years, this would be St Helens’s day.
