Super League: St Helens head coach Paul Wellens bemoans 'dropped standards' in 32-18 win over 12-player Giants
St Helens head coach Paul Wellens felt his side 'dropped our standards' after nearly falling to a Huddersfield fightback in the re-arranged Round 1 Betfred Super League clash; the Giants had Joe Greenwood sent off, but boss Ian Watson felt they should have been awarded the penalty
Last Updated: 14/08/23 9:53am
Paul Wellens believes St Helens will learn some valuable lessons after letting 12-player Huddersfield Giants back into the game in Sunday’s Betfred Super League clash at Totally Wicked Stadium.
The World Club Challenge winners let a 20-6 lead slip to 20-18 following second-half tries from Ash Golding and Kevin Naiqama as the Giants, who had Joe Greenwood sent off in the 27th minute for a raised elbow, threatened an unlikely comeback.
A relieved Wellens watched on as Lewis Dodd ended the Huddersfield rally after 75 minutes, before full-back Jack Welsby scored on the hooter to wrap up a 32-18 victory in the rearranged Round 1 encounter.
- Inside the Women's Challenge Cup final: Sights and sounds as St Helens make Wembley history
- Super League standings | Fixtures | Rugby league on Sky
- Stream the 2023 Betfred Super League and more with NOW
Saints' victory lifted them up to third in the Super League table, but Wellens felt his side's performance with a man advantage was far from ideal.
"It's probably going to sound a bit peculiar, but I think the worst thing that happened to us in that game was Joe Greenwood getting sent off," Wellens said. "I spoke to the players about it, I think we expected things from that point on to come easy.
"As I've seen so many times, 12 men can galvanise. They work harder for each other and find something a bit different, and I thought Huddersfield did that to their credit today, and we didn't respond well enough in that situation.
"I never sat there and felt comfortable in the game as I didn't like the way we dropped our standards. The players have come in straight off the field and they know.
"In some respect, that's a real positive, but we're going to have to do something about it."
Wellens did, however, praise the performance of winger Tommy Makinson, who crossed for three tries in the opening 40 minutes.
"I suppose he's like the football striker in the box. If you want anybody on the end of the line to finish those opportunities, it's Tommy Makinson. Like strikers in football, wingers love scoring tries and Tommy is no different."
Huddersfield boss Ian Watson was proud of his side's character and effort as they mounted an ultimately unsuccessful fightback.
However, he believed Greenwood actually deserved a penalty awarded to him in the incident which saw him sent off less than 60 seconds after coming on from the interchange bench.
"It was an interesting game," Watson said. "We didn't start the game well. We gave too much ball to St Helens at the start which is obviously going to take energy out of you.
"I'm not sure who it was who has gone straight through and shoulders the face of Joe Greenwood, he's then pushed out and I think he has caught him with the elbow, but it's not a malicious one.
"He's been sent off on the back of that when really, we should have had a penalty. For me, you've got Joe Greenwood who has been directly hit in the face - we had Joe directly hit in the face at Magic Weekend, we never got any penalties, he got concussed and then this game he's been sent off because he's lashed out.
"You talk about players feeling protected, that's not protecting players when they're getting hit straight in the face and they're the ones getting concussed on the back of it."
