Saints up and running

St Helens launched their campaign for a first Super League title since 2006 with a 15-2 triumph against Huddersfield Giants at Knowsley Road.

Four defeats in their last five matches, including a Carnegie Challenge Cup exit at the hands of the Giants, had threatened to wreck Saints' season but there were clear signs of them recapturing their old touch on Saturday.

Tony Puletua (two), Leon Pryce (13) and Francis Meli (21), got the tries for Mick Potter's men, while Kyle Eastmond booted two points and Sean Long scored one as the hosts booked their place in week three of the end of season competition.

Challenge Cup finalists Huddersfield just had a Brett Hodgson penalty to show for their efforts, meanwhile, but will have another chance to progress against lesser opposition in the preliminary semi-finals next week.

Dominance

Saints were ahead inside two minutes as pressure on Liam Fulton on the Giants' last tackle saw the kicker attempt a crazy offload that Puletua latched onto and raced half the length of the field to score. Eastmond converted and the hosts had a 6-0 lead.

Hodgson got the visitors on the board with a long-range penalty conversion on 10 minutes, but the Giants were then cut apart by the fleet-footed Pryce following good work from Eastmond.

The 20-year-old might have missed with the extras, but he went on to play a significant role in Saints' third try.

First he put in a telling tackle on Hodgson that caused the Australian to spill the ball, and then from the resulting ball he showed his keen eye for a gap by darting through the defence and creating a try for Meli with his smart offload.

Tight

Nathan Brown's side came out fighting in an effort to reduce their 14-2 deficit after the restart, but were fortunate not to fall further behind when Long chipped out to Ade Gardner on the edge of the in-goal area 10 minutes in.

The winger seemed certain to score, but could only knock on with the try-line gaping.

The Giants continued to press and enjoyed some sustained spells of pressure deep inside Saints territory thereafter, but simply could not make the decisive breakthrough.

Instead Long, who had erred with two earlier attempts, kicked a 70th minute drop goal and Saints went on to grind out the result to officially cast their dismal end to the season aside.