NATURALLY delighted but it was a one-off result. That was the opinion of Saints' boss Eric Hughes following his team's record 80-0 victory over Warrington in the Regal Trophy semi-final.

WHITTLE: Both a feast and a freak! So said many fans as they regained their breath at Knowsley Road on Thursday night. Have you and the lads come down to earth again?

HUGHES: Take it from me, we always try to keep our feet on the ground, but I would agree it was a bizarre scoreline which is unlikely to be repeated between two clubs who are usually concerned in 'needle' matches.

It was a night when everything we tried in training came off and we had three tries on the board almost before Warrington left the dressing room, which meant they had to play catch-up football and take risks, which is not their style.

Neither is surrendering possession on 23 occasions through unforced errors, and even though our attack functioned like a dream machine a 1-0 victory would have pleased me just as much. Some people may say there is little room for sentiment in professional sport, but I was very sad when I learned of Brian Johnson's resignation and telephoned him to ask him to reconsider his decision. But Brian was adamant, and I believe the Warrington club have lost a coach who was very conscientous and a highly respected figure both on and off the field.

As for Sunday's return match I have never believed it to a a good thing that clubs should meet twice in such a short time, and after their humiliation on Thursday I knew that Warrington would come back hard at Saints.

Over-enthusiasm triggered a loss of discipline which led to the Wires being shorthanded through have players dismissed or sin-binned, and that made life easier for us but, as with his work with Welsh team, I am sure new coach Clive Griffiths will do a good job at Wilderspool. WHITTLE: For the first time in almost three years the town is buzzing with 'final fever' as fans await Saturday's Regal Trophy decider versus you-know-who. Your innermost thoughts please?

HUGHES: There's an old saying 'never let the right hand know what the left is doing' and the clash with Wigan at Huddersfield is one of those situations, but I can tell you that when asked who were the opposition dangermen I answered 'all of them!'

I realise it has all been said before by every coach in the league but Wigan are a team with no obvious weakness, and Saints are fully aware that nothing less than 80 minutes total commitment and concentration will do.

However, the preparation has gone well this week, we were due to have a special training session at a secret rendezvous on Wednesday, and will scale down our efforts on Thursday and Friday so that we do not over-train.

With regard to the Saints line-up you have seen for yourself that doubtfuls Paul Newlove (Pictured), Chris Joynt, Adam Fogerty, Anthony Sullivan, Ian Pickavance and Vila Matautia all trained on Tuesday, and are in contention for a team to be announced later in the week.

There will be no overnight stay in an hotel because, apart from the expense, I am a great believer in players remaining in familiar surroundings before a big match, and the 16-man squad will leave for Huddersfield on Saturday morning.

WHITTLE: Away from all the excitement of Regal Trophy Final topics Saints have been linked with Wakefield prop Mick Clarkson. True or false?

HUGHES: It's a red herring or pure 'paper talk' as far as I am concerned, and although Saints are always interested in good players I have been delighted by the way young Andy Leathem is promising to add to our front-row strength.

Andy was in the young side which won the Wigan sevens in August, and it is a source of great satisfaction to me that Leathem, Andy Northey, Chris Morley, Kevin O'Loughlin, Joey Hayes, Simon Booth, Andy Haigh and James Arkwright have since appeared in the first team.

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