Wednesday 24 May 2017 14:17, UK
After an impressive Magic Weekend performance, Phil Clarke puts St Helens under the microscope ahead of their Super League clash with fierce rivals Wigan Warriors, live on SS1.
There is no doubt about who the headline act in Newcastle was last week. A one-sided demolition of Hull FC was the most surprising result and possibly the most significant.
We're used to the sporting phrase of "game changers" when incidents in a match alter the course of the game. Well, the 45 to nil scoreboard after game two of day one looked like a " champion changer."
Okay, I know that you only win two points on the league table and there is still a long way to go but it felt like more than that to anyone inside the ground as the final hooter sounded.
St Helens have been a club who have been in and around the big games for the last few years but they had failed to win when the pressure was on.
Take a look at the results below when the focus was on them and they needed to finish in front of their opponents when the hooter sounded:
2017: Magic weekend- beat Hull 45-0
2017: Challenge Cup - lost to Tigers 53 - 10
2016: Play-off - lost to Warrington 18 - 10
2016: Challenge Cup- lost to Hull 47 - 18
2016: Magic weekend - lost to Giants 48 - 20
2015: Play Off- lost to Leeds 20 - 13
2015: Challenge Cup- lost to Leeds in Semi Final 24 - 14
None of us know if it was the arrival and presence of the new coach, or the fact that they had under-performed so badly the week before at Castleford, but they had a "season best" in every aspect of their play.
They are aware, however, that they now need to back that up or it will be seen as a temporary spike like they had after Kieron Cunningham left - they almost won at Wigan with 12 men and then beat the Tigers three days later.
The Giants can tell you all about being the stars at Newcastle. They left St James' Park last year looking like super-heroes but then lost their next three games in Super League and faded away.
For this to be a significant shift in the balance of power in Super League then St Helens simply have to win against Wigan this week.
If they do that then all of a sudden the team in seventh could actually become the favourites to win the whole thing.
Justin Holbrook will hope to have the same effect on the game as Michael McGuire did when he arrived at Wigan and I am sure that the fans have told him that rule No 1 is to beat their arch rivals.
