Traynor: Saints must maintain standards

St Helens’ interim coach Derek Traynor has urged his players not to drop their intensity after two encouraging performances.

A good showing at Wigan when down to 12 men was backed up with an excellent 26-22 win over Castleford at the Totally Wicked Stadium over the Easter weekend.

Saints visit Widnes on Friday aiming to continue on an upward curve.

“We were delighted with the outcome on Monday, especially after backing up a really tough Wigan game,” Traynor told the club’s official website. “But we honestly believe we can improve on that and get better.

“And, the big thing is the lads believe that themselves and we will be looking to do that on Friday.

“We have played two top teams. Cas have been running hot and Wigan is always a big game. The last thing we need to do now is drop our intensity because of the position Widnes are in.

“We have to get our approach right as they are a dangerous team. We can’t drop our standards and if we maintain that then hopefully we can come away with a win.

“We are aiming to carry on in the same vein, but we can’t fall in love with ourselves because we have tried hard for two games and come up with two decent performances.

“Our philosophy is every time you pull a Saints shirt on you give your ultimate effort, so you aren’t going to get praise for putting effort in. It’s skill, intensity, brains and game sense we want to improve on.”