Wakefield Wildcats 32

Saints 16 HORROR SHOW! Rock-bottom! Unprofessional! Any of these charges could be levelled against sorry Saints after this shock result of the season on Sunday.

Picture the scene. League leaders Saints seeking an eighth successive against a lowly, cash-strapped Wakefield racked by player problems, and reeling from a 56-6 defeat at Belle Vue by Wigan.

But a young Wildcats' squad showing 10 changes lacked nothing in steel and self-belief in clawing their way to a famous victory which will work wonders for morale.

But the plain truth is that Saints were architects of their own downfall

Call it complacency, over-confidence or whatever, the fact is that high-riding Saints were a mistake-ridden shambles, with a completion rate of just 35 per cent meaning they had the ball for only 11 minutes, thus allowing possession to be gleefully accepted by a Wakefield side really 'up' for this one.

Defeat would have been easier to bear had Saints gone down with all guns blazing but that was not the case, and the six-try thrashing meant that Wildcats repeated last season's triumph over Saints (albeit at Barnsley).

However the bitterest pill to swallow was that arch-rivals Wigan leap-frogged over Saints into top spot, and yet it might have been so different, because the slip-shod Knowsley Road side should have sealed the issue in the opening 20 minutes.

Handling gaffes proved their undoing yet again, and although Wakefield drew level on half-time despite having two tries disallowed, there had been no hint of a remarkable second-half superiority which saw the massed Saints' support heading home long before the hooter.

However a good team doesn't become a bad one overnight, and the hope must be that several hard lessons will have been learned by a visitors' squad lacking Paul Wellens (kidney infection) and Sonny Nickle (burst blood vessel) while Keiron Cunningham was a doubt up to kick-off. Two-try Fereti Tuilagi, Sean Long, Paul Sculthorpe and Tony Stewart were best for Saints, while a Wakefield team richly deserving a standing ovation and lap of honour found special heroes in skipper Willie Poching, Martyn Holland, Warren Jowitt and twins Paul and David March.

Magnanimous in defeat, coach Ian Millward gave due credit to Wakefield and added that it would be wrong to just point the finger at the players. 'I'm part of the squad and we all have to take a good look at ourselves,' he added.

Some of the local 'gloss' was missing due to the absence of ex-Saints' Bobbie Goulding and Steve Prescott from the Wakefield side, and Saints opened the scoring when Stewart sent Tuilagi over after seven minutes, with Long converting.

Neil Law and David March had tries refused, while a Saints' side spurning a kickable penalty almost increased their lead via a Sculthorpe-Kevin Iro-Chris Joynt sortie, while Holland saved Wakefield's bacon with a try-saving tackle on Scully.

However, it was no more than spirited Wakefield deserved when the ever-probing Poching sent Frank Watene barging over for Graham Law to goal, but Saints riposts was immediate when, after a Long duet with Sullivan, Tuilagi went in for his second six-pointer Iro's knock-on then gave Wildcats' chance to set up position for a 39th minute equaliser when David March's shrewd pass put Warren Jowitt between the uprights, and at 12-12 the stage was set for a second half battle royal - or so we thought!

Instead Wakefield took command, first with a try by Paul March after following his own chip-through with Graham Law goaling; then Holland and Poching kept the ball alive to send in Ben Westwood, and finally Neil Law nipped over in the corner, with brother Graham converting from the touchline.

So shell-shocked Saints now trailed 28-12 with 57 minutes gone, but there was a hint of a fightback when Long's glorious break enabled Sullivan to score in the corner. However, it proved a false dawn as the enterprising Holland touched down on spotted a gap when Martyn chanced an interception.

Long's restart on the full was a fitting epitaph to what had not been Saints' day, while a breach of the peace involving Andy Fisher and Vila Matautia did not detract from the celebrations of worthy winners Wakefield.