WHAT is it they say about London buses?

You wait an age for one to arrive, and then two turn up at once…

Over the past three years, games against St Helens – both home and away – have been accompanied exclusively by pain and heartache for Warrington Wolves.

Now, though, all of that seems a lifetime ago for this truly is a new era.

Winning matches they had no right to win is becoming something of a moniker for The Wire’s Class of 2024 – take the backs-to-the-wall triumph over Catalans Dragons in Perpignan, for example, or snatching a victory at Hull FC despite desperately underperforming.

We can now add this to that particular body of evidence – and all things considered, it will quite rightly sit above the lot.

Reduced to 12 men after a quarter of the game, a 10-minute spell with just 11 players as legs became tired, people playing out of position – for most sides, the sheer weight of things going against them would prove too much.

You can add to that the raft of borderline calls that went Saints’ way – more on that shortly – but this team is showing that they are not “most sides.”

They are built different. They are made of something more, just as their head coach was.

The man himself will play his influence down – “they are the ones playing,” he always says – but Sam Burgess’ influence on this group, the vast majority of whom were part of the dramatic collapse that cost predecessor Daryl Powell his job, is crystal clear.

Like he used to do, this squad will go to the deepest depths to drag the person next to them out of trouble and when they are pushed, they push back harder.

And when things don’t go their way, it bonds them tighter.

Whatever your opinion on James Harrison’s sending-off and Matty Nicholson’s yellow card, Burgess was keener to point out some of the seemingly smaller “50-50” decisions that went against his side – with some justification.

Two of them directly preceded the big incidents – a seemingly clear knock-on by Daryl Clark was not picked up by referee Chris Kendall to present Saints with the ball back inside their own half and from that set, Harrison was red-carded.

Then in the second half, the set which ended in Nicholson being sin-binned for a professional foul – a decision which in itself was correct – came from Paul Vaughan being ruled to have knocked on despite the evidence suggesting the ball was stripped.

Kendall may have written himself off a few Christmas card lists within the WA postcode but in the end, it was of no consequence.

Indeed, his decision to send Harrison off following advice from video referee Liam Moore arguably saved the game as a spectacle for any neutrals watching as before then, it was going only one way.

Wire were rapier-sharp, slicing through a patched-up Saints side at will when given the opportunity to attack, which came about largely through the hosts’ sloppy discipline.

George Williams and Matt Dufty once again combined to lethal effect, ruthlessly exposing a St Helens defence known for being vulnerable on the edges.

The gathered Warrington faithful at the other end may have been licking their lips at the prospect of hammering their neighbours into the dirt, but the way things actually panned out must have arguably given them more satisfaction.

Now, they will have to patch themselves up and go again having ticked off the first game of a three-match run that may define their season.

This victory will have made more people sit up and take notice. If they can do the same to Wigan Warriors – much easier said than done, of course – belief in what they’re doing will go through the roof.