Neither the pundits, the bookies, or the fans gave the Catalans Dragons a ‘snowball in hell’s’ chance of upsetting the form book and taking the points from St Helens in tonights game at the Totally Wicked Stadium. The Saints demolished the Red Devils last week and despite the Dragons getting themselves a victory last week the expectation was that Saints would dispatch them with ease.

Saints were without 2018 sensation Ben Barba who was out injured, and injury which saw Jonny Lomax switch to full back from stand off where he was replaced by Theo Fages. James Roby was back in the side with Matty Smith moving to the bench where he was joined by Luke Douglas in the side for the suspended Matthew Lees.

There were four changes to the Catalans Dragon side which beat Hull FC last weekend in France with Vincent Duport, Julien Bosquet and Louis Anderson all making the starting line-up and with Alrix Da Costa on the bench.

Both sides made a number of errors in a scrappy opening few minutes. 

As the clock hit ten minutes Jonny Lomax won the race to ground a Tommy Makinson inside grubber kick and open the Saints scoring. Danny Richardson added the conversion for a 6-0 lead. Three minutes later the Saints were in again as Makinson took a Richardson high kick to the corner to drop over the line. Richardson was unable to convert.

There was deadlock for the next quarter of an hour but as the game progressed the Dragons looked much brighter. On thirty minutes Brayden Wiliame got a hand on the Josh Drinkwater grubber to score. Drinkwater was unable to add the conversion and the Dragons were still six adrift.

Within three minutes Morgan Knowles re-established the leading margin waltzing his way through a weak Dragons defence to score under the sticks and give Richardson a simple goal for 16-4.

Richardson attempted a drop goal on thirty-eight but failed to get any height on his kick.

Three minutes after the restart and Saints punished the Dragons for conceeding a penalty for a high foot when the moved the ball left with Mark Percival finding Regan Grace to score in the corner.Richardson hit the near upright with his conversion attempt but at 20-4 the game was close to being won.

Two minutes later Jody Broughton struck right back after Saints spilled the ball when he stepped twice and dove over in the corner.  Drinkwater again failed to add the extras, the Dragons twelve points adrift.

After the early flurry of tries the deadlock was re-established with some great defence from both sides keeping their lines intact.

Percival broke the line on sixty-nine and found Regan Grace to go in for his second try of the night with an unopposed three metre walk over the line to score. Richardson added the goal for 26-8.

With four minutes remaining Lewis Tierney scored a spectacular one-handed try by the right corner flag to reduce the arrears. Drinkwater was again off target with the boot, zero from three tonight, and the try was mere consolation for the visitors.

Saints were in full control of the game but were frustrated by a decent enough effort from the Dragons who didn’t capitulate quite as easily as had been expected pre-match. It was the Saints backs who won the game a great performance from Makinson, Morgan, Percival and Richardson. The Red Vee are back four points clear of the pile ahead of the rest of the round while the Dragons could find themselves back bottom should the Giants get a win against Widnes.

Saints: Lomax (T), Makinson (T), Morgan, Percival, Grace (2T), Fages, Richardson (3G), Amor, Roby, Thompson, Peyroux, Taia, Wilkin.  Subs: Smith, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Douglas, Knowles (T).

Dragons: Gigot, Broughton (T), Duport, Wiliame (T), Tierney (T), Langi, Drinkwater, Casty, McIlorum, Bosquet, Jullien, Anderson, Bird.  Subs: Moa, Da Costa, Baitieri, Maria.

Referee: Robert Hicks.

Half-Time: 16-4.

Full-Time: 26-12.

Attendance: .