Quins maintain flying start

Harlequins maintained their barnstorming start to the engage Super League campaign with an impressive 27-16 victory at St Helens on Friday night.

The win for Rob Powell's side, who remain level on points with Warrington at the top of the table at this early stage, emphatically snaps a 10-game losing run against Saints.

The foundation for the victory was laid in the opening period, a 40 minutes which saw Quins blast their North West opponents away with a three-try burst.

Scores from Luke Dorn, Karl Pryce and Tony Clubb put the Londoners 20-0 ahead at the break, and from there on there was no way back for St Helens, despite scores from Francis Meli, James Graham and a late consolation from James Roby.

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St Helens gave a debut to Australian Test prop Josh Perry but the absence of their injured quartet of internationals was noticeable as they produced a below-par performance to leave themselves still looking for their first win at their temporary home in Widnes.

They looked devoid of ideas on attack, with teenage stand-off Lee Gaskell trying in vain to provide a spark, and put themselves under enormous pressure with a series of handling errors inside their own half.

Quins, who gave debuts to former England winger Mark Calderwood and 20-year-old Wigan trialist half-back Joe Mellor, seized control with two tries in the first six minutes and never looked like relinquishing their hold on the game.

The 6,050 crowd were stunned inside three minutes when skipper Rob Purdham brought Dorn onto a delightful inside ball and the full-back easily rounded his opposite number Paul Wellens to open the scoring.

Just three minutes later giant centre Pryce, given a first start in the absence of the suspended David Howell, proved unstoppable after taking Chad Randall's pass 10 metres from the Saints line to grab his second try in three appearances.

When Saints managed to put the visitors under pressure their defence was up to the test, with Dorn pulling off a last-ditch tackle on Gaskell and Calderwood tackling Meli into touch at the corner while substitute Scott Moore reached the line only to be brought back for a forward pass.

Quins demonstrated far superior finishing when England centre Clubb made the most of some soft defence to touch down midway through the first half.

Unopposed

And they would have been further ahead had Purdham managed to find the supporting Clubb after splitting the Saints defence wide open but Meli managed to knock down the final pass.

Gale converted all three tries and extended his side's lead to 20-0 by the break with a penalty goal.

It was a similar story in the second half as Pryce crashed over the line but he was unable to ground the ball and Saints pulled a try back on 48 minutes when Meli took Gaskell's long pass to cross unopposed at the corner.

The comeback was on when captain Graham crashed over as first receiver on the last tackle and Eastmond kicked the conversion to make it 20-10.

But the fightback was ended when Roby's forced pass was intercepted by Quins back rower Nick Kouparitsas, who had an unopposed 40-metre sprint for his first try for the club.

Gale maintained his 100 per cent record by landing his fifth goal and added a drop goal five minutes from the end before England hooker Roby grabbed a last-minute consolation try for Saints, with Jamie Foster kicking the conversion.