St Helens 4 Huddersfield 40: Lunt back in style as Saints are crushed by Giants

It was no secret that, deep down, the ex-England international wanted to stay at Leeds Rhinos after being farmed out on loan there last season.

Let us not forget, having somehow been relegated to fourth choice hooker at Huddersfield, he switched to their West Yorkshire rivals and thrived so vividly that he actually won a Grand Final.

Lunt, therefore, might quite conceivably have envisaged playing in a World Club Challenge for Leeds later this month against Australian giants Melbourne Storm.

Instead, though, a permanent deal could not be concluded and so the Super League champion found himself returned to a club which staggered home in seventh last term.

It would be easy to understand any disappointment. However, if Saturday is anything to go by, Huddersfield are now looking a far different team.

A truly astounding performance, full of such power and subtlety in equal measure, saw them humiliate a St Helens team picked by many to be the side for 2013.

In doing so, rampant Huddersfield secured their first win at Saints in 35 years and it was predominantly down to an immense forward effort.

Such was the dominance of their pack, with a seemingly endless supply of athletic identikit giants – Stuart Fielden, Craig Kopczak, Luke O’Donnell, Eorl Crabtree and Jason Chan taking it in turns to blast into or, more often, through their battered hosts – that Lunt could play as if he was sat at home in his armchair watching telly. The probing hooker was able to just pick up and select his passes or snipe away at will and, looking like a player imbued with confidencefrom that Old Trafford success, he duly did to leave embarrassed Saints chasing shadows all evening.

This was a Saints side supposedly boasting a formidable pack themselves, given the addition of Hull FC colossus Willie Manu to the likes of Sia Soliola and Tony Puletua but he was made to look feeble in contrast as relentless Huddersfield stifled them from the off.

“It’s an absolute hooker’s dream to play behind a pack like that,” said Lunt. “There’s no other way to describe it. They’re great lads – big, physical, tough and just get on with their job.

“They work hard and it makes my life so much easier playing off what they did out there.

“It was all about who came out with the right attitude. I’m not saying Saints didn’t but we had such a good one.

“We were confident coming in, got off to a good start and kicked on from there.

“It was a great way to start the season but we’ve done this now for the last few years so we can’t get carried away.

“Obviously, we’ve got to improve. We’ll just look forward to London at home on Sunday and, hopefully, a win again.”

Of course, the main narrative on Saturday evening was Huddersfield doing such an emphatic job on their former coach Nathan Brown, ruining his first game in charge of Saints where he had, no doubt, been lured bythe prospects of trophies.

Conversely, his assistant for the previous three years, Paul Anderson, enjoyed a notable scalp against the man who recommended him for the chief role at Giants.

He has quickly stamped his own print on thisteam. Under Brown, Huddersfield certainly had a habit of opening the season with gusto only to fade at the business end; they were top of Super League under the Australian last May but tumbled so drastically that he was sacked following the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat in July.

Anderson’s challenge is to make them more consistent and he has started with the basics, the addition of international props Fielden and Kopczak making them so strong and direct up front.

But it was not all about brute force. Giants’ forwards were clearly encouraged to offload and, with Brett Ferres particularly potent, the sheer options of runners left Saints in utter disarray.

Danny Brough and Luke Robinson looked instantly comfortable in a new half-back pairing before the former departed with a tight hamstring and Lunt – given the responsibility denied him so often by Brown – dovetailed perfectly in a midfield triangle which, like the whole squad, showed surprising sharpness for a first weekend of the new season.

Huddersfield’s outside backs benefited fully with England centre Leroy Cudjoe crossing twice – his first the result of some brilliant handling – and wingers Jermaine McGillvary and Luke George both getting off the mark.

There was some comedy Saints defending to see Larne Patrick and Lunt cross, too, with Ferres also scoring a deserved effort earlier off Brough’s well-timed pass.

As gleeful Huddersfield fans sang ‘You’re getting sacked in themorning’ to Brown, it seemed the clueless home side would remainscoreless on home soil for the first time since 1982 until Mark Flanagan’s 75th-minute try fortunately saved them from that ignominy.

But it surely must have been nice for Lunt to show his class against the man who discarded him?

“Not at all,” insisted the 25-year-old. “Browny did a great deal for my career. He kick-started it, gave me a shot at Huddersfield and developed my game really well.

“I’d never want to come back and put one over him as such. There’s no bitter taste from what happened last year.”

Brown, for his part, readily accepted Saints just could not handle the physicality of Anderson’s side. They may not be the only ones in the months ahead.

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St Helens: Wellens; Makinson, Turner, Jones, Meli; Gaskell, Lomax; Perry, Roby, Laffranchi, Soliola, Wilkin, Manu. Substitutes: Hohaia, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Puletua, Flanagan.

Huddersfield Giants: Grix; McGillvary, Cudjoe, Wardle, George; Brough, Robinson; Fielden, Lunt, Kopczak, Ferres, Chan, O’Donnell. Substitutes: Crabtree, Faiumu, Patrick, Cording.

Referee: R Silverwood (Mirfield).