St Helens 37-30 Crusaders

St Helens (24) 37
Tries: Roby, Eastmond, Meli, Dean, Clough, Pryce Goals: Eastmond 6
Drop Goal: Eastmond

Crusaders (6) 30
Tries: Mellars, Thackray, Raynor, Withers, Blackwood Goals: Witt 5

St Helens withstood a late rally from Brian Noble's Crusaders before nailing down a narrow victory at Knowsley Road.

Saints looked on the way to an easy win when they led 24-6 at the break thanks to tries from Kyle Eastmond, Vince Mellars, Francis Meli and Chris Dean.

Tries from Paul Clough and Leon Pryce then stretched Saints clear at 36-12.

Crusaders hit back through Gareth Raynor, Lincoln Withers, Anthony Blackwood, Vince Mellars and Jamie Thackray but the hosts held on.

With Crusaders having got within a converted score of Saints with still seven minutes left, it took an Eastmond drop goal on 76 minutes to calm home nerves by taking Saints out of sight.

It was still a thrilling spectacle for new Crusaders signing Gareth Thomas to enjoy ahead of his expected debut in next Friday night's home clash against Catalans.

Noble's men played some delightful stuff, never letting their spirits sag. And Michael Witt was a prominent figure throughout at scrum-half.

Yet Saints, responding well to their 28-24 defeat at Hull KR last Sunday, looked a cut above in the first half.

Their first two tries, from Roby and the outstanding Eastmond, came inside the first 10 minutes. But the Welshmen, backed by a small but vociferous following, refused to lie down.

They were back in it when centre Mellars grounded a high kick from Witt, who converted.

Crusaders continued to probe but Saints underlined their greater cutting edge with further tries before the break from Meli in the corner and Dean, set up by Eastmond's delightful kick.

Crusaders hit back six minutes into the second half when Withers' rapier-like pass sent the onrushing Thackray over.

Saints quickly hit back when a horrendous defensive lapse allowed Clough to collect possession and saunter over for the simplest of scores. And then Pryce got the try his work-rate deserved as a neat sidestep sent him clear.

But, just two minutes later, Raynor raced 40 metres to touch down, followed by tries for Withers and winger Blackwood in the left corner.

And, with Witt having converted all of his side's tries, Saints needed the security of that late clinching drop goal from Eastmond, to add to his six conversions.

St Helens coach Mick Potter:
"It's probably not the prettiest of wins, but we move on now.

"Certainly our completion rates were not good enough in the second half. We've got work to do on our defence. For me, it's not good enough.

"But Crusaders are a quality team with a good coaching staff and they'll win a lot more games than they did last year."

Crusaders coach Brian Noble:
"We've certainly got a pulse. We know we need to stop digging a hole for ourselves and there were some salutary lessons to learn from.

"We asked for a bit of a response at half-time. We started the game on the back foot and Saints were far too quick for us. But we had more purpose to our play in the second half and, although we didn't quite achieve parity, we put in a big effort.

"Gareth Thomas will be ready for next week. He has practised really well but it's been a bit strange when you are having to teach how to carry out the play-the-ball. But he's an absolutely quality player and a quality person."

St Helens: Eastmond, Gardner, Dean, Wheeler, Meli, Pryce, Roby, Graham, Cunningham, Hargreaves, Flannery, Wilkin, Clough.
Replacements: Fozzard, Moore, Ashurst, Fa'asavalu.

Crusaders: Youngquest, Blackwood, Dyer, Mellars, Raynor, Lupton, Witt, O'Hara, Withers, Bryant, Chan, Hauraki, Trimarchi.
Replacements: Martin, Winternstein, Peek, Thackray.

Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington).

Attendance: 8,507