Saints will lose their status as world champions on Saturday night. They want a taste of that success again
By Gavin Willacy for No Helmets Required
St Helens played their part in giving Super League a new lease of life. At the bar in the Royal Alfred Hotel before their season kicked off, a fan from southern England wearing the red V announced it was his first visit to Langtree Park, where he joined 14,000 St Helens supporters flocking home to worship at their sporting shrine. They contributed to a Super League record-breaking opening round attendance of 76,752.
The West Stand terrace was almost full 45 minutes before the 40-4 win against London Broncos. There was a pre-match light show and fireworks, and music filling every gap – sometimes it was still on when the game had restarted. It was everything IMG that “reimagined” when they took hold of Super League and started their idealistic journey towards having the game’s biggest and best 12 clubs in the top tier next year.