ESL: RND1: St Helens 18 Huddersifeld 10

[qld power]

St Helens made a successful start to the defence of their engage Super League title - but were made to fight by Huddersfield Giants in Sunday?s opener at the Galpharm Stadium.

They made a confident start, with three tries in the first 20 minutes, but were gradually pegged back by the gritty Giants in what became an evenly-fought contest and in the end were grateful for the final whistle.

Had Huddersfield been more clinical in their finishing, Saints might have been left to rue the absence of a specialist goalkicker, with Sean Long and Jason Hooper managing just one success between them from four attempts.

[Grimmace]

Saints off to stuttering start
From correspondents in London
February 05, 2007

ST Helens got its Super League title defence off to a winning start but its 18-10 victory at Huddersfield was far from convincing.

It made a great start, with three tries in the first 20 minutes, but was gradually pegged back by the Giants.

The re-run of August's Challenge Cup final, which Saints won 42-12, looked like going the same way as Daniel Anderson's treble winners shrugged off the absence of a trio of internationals to race into an early 14-2 lead.

Sean Long, playing his first match since his infamous Great Britain walkout from the Tri-Nations in November, shrugged off the whistles from the home supporters to spark the visitors into action.

Another Great Britain international, Leon Pryce, also caught the eye with a brilliant attacking display as an emergency full-back in the absence of Paul Wellens.

Lee Gilmour, replacing the suspended Willie Talau, opened the scoring when he took a pass from Pryce to crash over for the first try after only six minutes.

Seven minutes later Pryce took an inside ball from Long to cruise over and winger Ade Gardner added a third on 20 minutes.

Long, however, came up short with his kicking landing just one success from his three conversion attempts.

Huddersfield captain Chris Thorman pulled a couple of points back with a penalty and the Giants gave themselves hope with a 25th-minute try when Matt Gardner grabbed a score despite the attentions of older brother, Ade.

Thorman landed the touchline conversion and added a second penalty just before the break to close the gap to just four points but that was as good as it got for Huddersfield.

Saints extended their lead nine minutes into the second half when Jason Cayless and James Roby combined to get Gilmour over for his second try and Saints' fourth.

St Helens were reduced to 12 men on 56 minutes when Jon Wilkin was sin-binned and placed on report for a high and late tackle which left Thorman concussed and they almost conceded a try straight away.

Agence France-Presse

[DIEHARD]

What was the crowd for this?