Former Dally M medallist Ben Barba has turned on the style at Super League’s Magic Weekend to help St Helens consolidate top spot with a 38-18 win over Widnes.
A spectator at St James’ Park 12 months earlier, the mercurial fullback took centre stage this time, scoring his 19th try of a wonderful season as Saints overcame a gritty Vikings side.
Saints were well below their best and Widnes threatened a major upset when Matt Whitley took Jordan Johnstone’s short pass to crash over for a fifth-minute try but they were forced into a reshuffle when Rhys Hanbury went off injured.
The leaders soon drew level before Barba showed his defensive resilience in turning second-rower Sam Wilde onto his back over the line before bamboozling the Vikings defence with another kick that produced an opportunist try for winger Regan Grace.
Wellington Albert, who made a big impact from the bench, crashed over Widnes before Barba scythed through the Vikings’ defence.
Widnes suffered another blow when the impressive Johnstone was forced off with a head knock but Saints were reduced to 12 men three minutes before the break when Dominique Peyroux was sin-binned for obstructing Aaron Heremaia in pursuit of Joe Mellor’s kick.
Video referee Ben Thaler ignored the Vikings’ claim for a penalty try but they struck as the halftime hooter sounded, with Jimmy Keinhorst making full use of the extra man to cross for his first Widnes try.
Stefan Marsh kicked all three conversions to trim Saints’ lead to just four points at the break but Danny Richardson added a penalty early in the second half, taking up valuable time while his side were still down to 12 men.
Widnes might have drawn level when Whitley was held up over the line but they fell further behind when former Melbourne and Parramatta centre Ryan Morgan crossed for Saints’ fifth.
Barba then supplied the final pass for Morgan to score his second despite a suggestion of a knock-on and Grace made it a double three minutes from the end after pouncing on a handling error and sprinting 80 metres upfield.
