Saints 26

Castleford 10

A COMBINATION of experience and youth helped Saints to their ninth successive victory with Paul Newlove marking his return to action by doing what he does best - crossing the whitewash.

Newlove, playing his first game since breaking his thumb 10 weeks ago, crossed for Saints' second score of the night to help the depleted champions on their way.

At the other end of the playing spectrum Ian Milward gave debuts to three youngsters from the Academy ranks with prop John Hill and 17-year-olds Ian Hardman and James Graham thrown into the fray in the second half.

They all gave good accounts of themselves in a victory that had to be ground out over 80 minutes.

The Tigers started the better of the two sides but they only had a smartly taken try by Tom Saxton to show for their opening quarter territorial advantage.

Composed Saints simply stuck to their guns in defence and patiently built the pressure when they had the ball in their hands.

That patience eventually bore fruit on 23 minutes when rampaging second rower John Stankevitch was able to storm through Cas' ragged defence to touch down.

Newlove added to that score six minutes later after Sean Long quickly tapped a penalty and spun the ball left where the ex-Great Britain centre was on hand to show that old habits die hard.

Long, who enjoyed another great night with the boot, slotted over the conversion to give Saints a 14-6 interval lead.

Although the second half was quite scrappy, Saints always had the Tigers at arm's length. Had they been able to grab an early try you got the impression the floodgates would have opened.

Nevertheless, it was good to see Saints keeping up their good defensive efforts with the likes of Mike Bennett, Tim Jonkers and Paul Wellens knocking down everything in front of them and forcing the visitors into some basic errors.

A close range Ade Gardner score temporarily put Saints into the comfort zone.

But the Tigers' resistance did not end there and after having one try disallowed for a forward pass, Cas speedster Waine Pryce dashed 80 metres to grab a try out of nothing.

Not to be outdone, Gardner brought the curtain down with a 60 metres dash to the corner for a superbly taken try. Long's touchline goal wrapped up the scoring.

Afterwards Saints coach Ian Millward said: "I thought our defence won it for us. We showed really good enthusiasm, attitude and discipline. I am really proud of the way they fought for each other. What opportunities we had, we took.

"If we had stayed here until midnight, Cas weren't going to win the game."

Of the young debut players, Millward added: "We were confident to use them. They showed in training that playing for Saints meant a lot to them and that is part of the battle.

"They were excited and nervous. It must be daunting when you grow up watching Saints play and the next minute you are out there. It must have been a dream come true."

Saints: Paul Wellens; Tony Stewart, Paul Newlove, Jason Hooper, Ade Gardner; Sean Long, Jon Wilkin; Keith Mason, Keiron Cunningham, Barry Ward, John Stankevitch, Mike Bennett, Tim Jonkers. Subs: John Hill, James Graham, Stuart Jones, Ian Hardman.