Brown’s new policy of fielding best side works well

The 40-18 success over their injury-ravaged opponents came following recent away losses against Crusaders and Catalan Dragons which dented their progress in the competition.

The seven-try victory was Saints’ heaviest loss since losing 44-4 at Hull FC in 2005 and it included some notable displays.

Brown – who had said pre-match he will pick his strongest side after weeks of squad rotations – was particularly pleased with the efforts of 19-year-old centre Joe Wardle, signed from Bradford last winter and a surprise inclusion.

He scored his first Super League try before departing with a hamstring injury which makes him doubtful for Sunday’s Challenge Cup fifth-round tie against Catalan along with Luke O’Donnell, who suffered a similar problem in the warm-up.

“Joe has made his way into the team on form and everyone saw today why he’s in there,” he said.

“He’s moved an international centre (Leroy Cudjoe) over to the wing.

“I thought for 60 or 65 minutes we were good. In the first half, defensively, we did really well and, although we led 12-0, we created another three genuine chances but we’re certainly not going to get carried away.

“Credit to St Helens because that’s the best we’ve played for a while and they pushed us for a long period of that game.”

Saints coach Royce Simmons, meanwhile, took the blame for his side’s loss.

With nine first-teamers ruled out through injury, he was forced to give a debut to 19-year-old back-row Scott Hale, while Nathan Ashe and Jon Wilkin formed a seventh different half-back partnership so far this year.

St Helens fear they may have now lost prop Josh Perry with a suspected broken knuckle but Simmons refused to use the injuries as an excuse and blamed himself for changing his team’s game plan.

“We had 17, they had 17, so there are no excuses, “ he said. “I can take a fair bit of blame for today.

“There were quite a few changes and I tried to make things a lot simpler but I probably should have stuck to the way we were going to play.

“We probably played a bit negative.”