Huddersfield Giants vs St Helens Prediction: Buoyed Saints to down Giants

After a morale-boosting win against Catalans last week, St Helens bid to record back-to-back victories for the first time in over two months when taking on Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith's Stadium on Friday night (20:00, live on Sky Sports +).

Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe reflects on that 40-0 victory before sharing his Huddersfield Giants vs St Helens prediction.

What a difference a big win - and a proper Saints-like performance - makes…

After a tough couple of months, and I’m sure a long 12 days following that disappointing loss the Leeds, the Saints players looked hungry to turn things around. I’d say a 40-0 demolition of the Catalans Dragons proved as much.

It didn’t take long to make that first statement, as two minutes in man of the moment George Whitby finished off some great edge play by Percival and Sailor.

Six minutes later, the outstanding Alex Walmsley barged over to put the home side 12-0 up and looking completely dominant in the first quarter.

A couple of lapses in concentration and errors by Saints kept the Dragons in the game - well, on the scoreboard at least. However, far more errors and stupid penalties by the visitors meant they never really put pressure on the Saints line, and never looked like posting points.

You do have to commend the hosts though. Despite some poor performances of late, you can’t question the intent of their defensive line.

It took 35 minutes before Saints extended their lead. New signing and home debutant Dion Cross showed great strength and evasion to break the French defence.

Steve McNamara’s men looked completely broken. If they could have, I'm sure they would have got back on the team bus at half time. Unfortunately for them, there was more to come.

Some classy interplay between Jack Welsby and Mark Percival caused more problems for the Dragons' left edge, breaking through and sending the ever-supporting Whitby in for his second.

I’m sure it was the easiest half-time team talk Wello has had all year, with his side 24-0 up at the break.

The second half carried on in pretty much the same vein. The irrepressible Mark Percival showed numerous touches of class throughout the game, as he has all season. But, the footwork and skill to put Tristan Sailor in the corner was truly world class.

Everyone knows what a big fan of Percy I am. I have played with some of the best ever- Newlove, Iro, Lyon, Gleeson - but boy, I’d have loved to team up alongside this kid. He’s an out-and-out competitor, with all the skill to back it up.

While I’m singing praises, I thought the aforementioned Alex Walmsley was immense. I had the pleasure of being a studio guest on Sky and as I said in the post-match analysis, big Al looked like a senior player who had put his hand up to lead his team out of trouble.

His offensive carries and defensive efforts were that of a guy taking responsibility. The stardust of his performance was his beautiful offload to hat-trick hero Whitby for the final try of the game.

Alongside Percy, Jack Welsby showed what a world-class player he is. His ability to read what’s in front of him and execute accordingly is a pleasure to watch. What a difference in his accustomed full-back role.

I’ve been rather critical of Tristan Sailor over the past month or so, and rightly so I feel. But, like many Saints fans, the frustration has been down to lack of involvement and running game. After Wello switched him to the wing, Sailor looked like he actually enjoyed himself out there. His pace created the opening try, and after fancy feet from Percy he crossed the whitewash himself. Credit where it's due.

I’ve absolutely no doubt that performance will provide a much-needed moral boost to both the players and staff. Is there more improvement to come? Absolutely.

Hopefully that's the case on Friday against struggling Huddersfield.

The Giants have won just one of their 11 games this season and sit joint-bottom of the Betfred Super League table with Salford. So, this is a must-win game.

I’m going for a Saints win by more than 20 points to set us up nicely for probably the toughest game of the season as we visit league leaders Hull KR on May 30.

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