Heroic Cunningham inspires Saints' win

As if to celebrate his decision to stay with St Helens and rugby league, Keiron Cunningham expanded his repertoire in this victory over Wigan which, if anything, flattered their old rivals.

Cunningham, who was given a hero's welcome following his rejection of Welsh rugby union overtures this week, not only did his usual quota of damage with his superb distribution from dummy half, he also filled in for the absence of Saints' regular half backs by feeding the scrums.

Ironically, it was rumoured to be the scrum-half role for which the WRU had him earmarked if he had made the code switch, and Saints' coach, Ian Millward, stressed the importance of using Cunningham in new and imaginative ways.

"It's something we worked on in training this week,'' he said. "What Keiron's done for rugby league is a tremendous service and it's up to me to keep challenging him and making him an even greater player.''

Cunningham played down the tactical innovation. "I didn't really play scrum-half,'' he said. "I just fed the scrum. I'm after Sean Long's place for next season now, but I'll have to improve my kicking.''

It was in his more traditional role behind the play-the-ball, however, that Cunningham did his best work for Saints, setting up three tries before half time to break a 6-6 deadlock.

Wigan had struck first, through Mick Cassidy's break and Terry Newton's dart over before the defence could re-group, with Peter Shiels equalising when Brett Dallas lost Paul Sculthorpe's kick to the corner.

Cunningham's fast flat passes twice sent the equally outstanding Paul Wellens in for touchdowns. Best of all was his lightning delivery that saw Sculthorpe power over despite Andy Farrell's tackle.

It was a fine half from Saints, considering that they had added Anthony Sullivan and Tommy Martyn to their injured list and were using several players in subtly different roles.

Wigan looked distinctly off colour and were further handicapped when Matthew Johns went off with an ankle injury. They threatened to bounce back, though, when after absorbing sustained pressure at the start of the second half, they replied through Paul Johnson, the other player to commit his future to rugby league this week, using his pace and strength to get outside Sean Hoppe.

A couple of penalties and the sin-binning of Kevin Iro and Steve Renouf for a furious set-kept the game simmering until Saints killed it off five minutes from time.

Farrell's poor drop-out was picked up by John Stankevitch and his pass put Tim Jonkers over ­ two of Saints' fringe players combining to underline their happy knack of functioning without key men.

You could feel the pleasure around Knowsley Road, however, at the fact they will not have to manage without Cunningham. "We showed all our pride and passion today," said the man of the moment. "That's why I wanted to stay."

St Helens: Stewart, Hoppe, Iro, Stankevitch, Hall, Sculthorpe, Wellens, Matautia, Cunningham, Nickle, Fairleigh, Shiels, Joynt. Substitutes used: McDonald, Jonkers, Cruckshank.

Wigan: Radlinski, Dallas, Johnson, Renouf, Carney, Johns, Lam, O'Connor, Newton, Cowie, Furner, Cassidy, Farrell. Substitutes used: Haughton, Betts, Stephenson.

Referee: S Cummings (Widnes).