Headlines
Ruthless Saints please Potter
Monday 20th April 09
St Helens coach Mick Potter hailed his side's best performance of the season after they powered four points clear in engage Super League.
Saints ran six tries past a stunned Castleford Tigers in a remarkable opening 22 minutes at The Jungle to set up a crushing 68-12 victory.
In-form Kiwi forward Tony Puletua grabbed a hat-trick inside a quarter of an hour and went on to finish with four tries while Jon Wilkin also claimed a hat-trick.
Leon Pryce produced an inspired display to touch down twice and Sean Long kicked 10 goals. Ade Gardner, Bryn Hargreaves and Maurie Fa'asavalu were Saints' other scorers.
Michael Shenton, Mitchell Sargent, Kirk Dixon and Sione Faumuina pulled tries back for the Tigers.
Potter said: "They were very good and I think we executed play probably the best we have done this year in that stint.
"Tony Puletua wasn't doing anything different to what he has been doing but he was too big, too strong for a few guys."
Castleford's afternoon was put into context by the sad sight Joe Westerman being carried off on a stretcher after having a fit on the field.
The 19-year-old loose forward was taken to hospital for overnight observation after going into spasms following an innocuous-looking collision with a Saints player.
The game was held up for 12 minutes while he received treatment during the first half, with Cas already trailing 32-0.
"There is good news because he is coming along okay," said Tigers coach Terry Matterson after the game. "That is the main thing.
"Everything's fine, his full memory is back and everything's good, and that's fantastic, that's the most important thing today. It looks like he's trying to get out of hospital."
Matterson added that he had no concerns the injury came about as a result of foul play.
"It was just one of those things," he told www.castigers.com. "It was just a bit of bad luck to be honest, which is good, I'm glad there was no illegal play."
Castleford later confirmed that Westerman had been allowed home after a CT scan revealed no serious injury.
"The Tigers would like to announce that Joe Westerman was last night released from hospital and is making a full recovery," read the statement.
"Joe was involved in a tackle that produced a hard collision with the ground. He did sustain a head injury and was immediately transferred to Pinderfields Hospital.
"He was further assessed and recieved a CT scan which thankfully has revealed no serious injury.
"Joe would like to thank all the supporters for their concerns and is likely to resume training during the week."
