Paul Wellens warns Super League rivals there is more to come from St Helens

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens warned his side’s Betfred Super League rivals there is more to come after his side’s nine-try show against Castleford stretched their points tally into three figures after just two games.

Teenage centre Harry Robertson crossed twice as Saints followed up last week’s record-breaking 82-0 win over under-strength Salford with a 46-6 demolition job at The Jungle.

Wellens said: “I’ve congratulated the team on a good performance but we know there’s plenty more improvement in us.

“There were elements of our game defensively just before half-time where we need to get better, and in the second half where we allowed them a few opportunities that we don’t want to moving forward.

“I thought the first 20 minutes were as good as it gets but to their credit they (Castleford) got themselves back in the game and it was a nice reminder for us that we’ve got to keep going in games.”

Three early tries proved Saints had every intent of emulating last week’s headline-grabbing start, but the hosts responded well and Sylvester Nano’s effort, converted by Tex Hoy, managed to restrict Wellens’ men to an eight-point interval lead.

It was a different story after the break, with another eye-catching performance from Jack Welsby at full-back contributing to six more tries for his side, while Mark Percival topped off another convincing win with 10 points from his boot.

“He (Welsby) is incredible,” added Wellens. “We all know how talented a player he is but his influence on the group is growing week by week, not just as a player but as a leader. He is learning a lot about himself, and he is still learning every day.”

Castleford boss Danny McGuire refused to take any solace from his side’s gutsy fightback towards the end of the first half as he faced up to the third straight loss of his Wheldon Road reign.

Having kicked off with a dismal Challenge Cup loss at Bradford, Cas showed plenty of positives in pushing Hull KR close week, but were found wanting in the face of Saints’ relentless second-half assault.

“I thought we had a period of five or 10 minutes when we were OK, but the rest of it we were soft,” said McGuire.

“I can’t really see that many positives. We’ve gone backwards again and our challenge is to find some consistency. I just feel that when it gets tough and really starts to bite, we’re not able to do our job properly.

“I can take losing if you’re scrapping and fighting, but they had some walk-ins, you (the media) could probably have scored them. That’s not good enough. Everyone knows they’ve got better players than us at the moment, but that doesn’t mean they can just waltz through.”