Cunningham encouraged by Saints display

St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham was pleased with his team’s preseason win over Widnes at the weekend.

Saints won the game at Langtree Park 16-0, and Cunningham was happy with the way his young players performed in particular.

“Today wasn’t about the result, it was seeing where we are at and looking at combinations,” Cunningham told his club’s official website.

“For large periods with the top squad on things looked really good for us.

“We did the right things for large periods and the second half was also very promising.

“We had a picture on the pitch the other day with 24 players in our squad who had come through the academy system. Two or three of them couldn’t play today through injury but the rest did really well.

“They are a credit to the club and you could see that with how resilient they were in the second half. That is the Saints way. I wouldn’t be worried about playing any of them this year.”

One issue which did perturb Cunningham, though, was the leg injury sustained by Matty Smith.

“We don’t know at the moment but we don’t think it is going to be good,” he said.