WAKEFIELD coach John Kear admitted his side had no answer to the skill of St Helens stand-off Leon Pryce as the visitors won comfortably 50-6.

Pryce, who was left out of England’s 37-strong squad for their get-together, responded in style by scoring his side’s first try and laying on three of the next four.

“I thought Leon Pryce really stood up in the first half and was a major difference between the two teams,” said Kear.

St Helens coach Mick Potter admitted he was surprised that Pryce had been ignored by new England coach Steve McNamara.

“I thought Leon was outstanding,” he said. “He’s been playing well for a while.

“He’s one of the better players in Super League so it is a surprise but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Jon Wilkin, Shaun Magennis and Tony Puletua all scored two tries apiece as St Helens gained the win that takes them to within two points of second-placed Warrington, their next opponents in Super League, and puts them in good heart ahead of their Challenge Cup showdown with Leeds a week later.

“To put in a performance in attack in the second half like that was good and to hold them to six points was a pleasing effort,” said Potter.

“We’re trying to build some momentum and I think we’ve done that today, it was a good sign for us.”

Meanwhile Kear has called for some soul-searching from his players after watching them capitulate in familiar fashion to go down 50-6 at home to St Helens.

The Wildcats took an early lead through debutant Keiran Hyde’s try, goaled by Paul Cooke, but failed to make the most of a series of uncharacteristic errors from the visitors and conceded six tries in the second half.

“I thought for 30 minutes we competed well but fell away worryingly,” said Kear, whose side have slipped out of the top eight after winning just three of their last 11 matches.

“It’s the biggest hole we’ve been in since I’ve been here and we need to address it, whether it’s through personnel changes I don’t know.

“There is a lot of reflection that needs to be done this week because we either win by 40 or 50 or collapse and lose by 40 or 50.

“We’ve asked about our own character within the group. Are we strong enough as a group to tough it out when things are against us or do we think it’s acceptable to just collapse and capitulate, which is what we’re doing too frequently?

“It you look at the results over the last couple of months, it’s either a resounding win or an absolute hiding.

“Super League isn’t supposed to be like that. We aren’t making games competitive at the minute. We’re either strolling through games or we’re capitulating.”

Kear admitted the heavy defeat took some off the gloss off the half-time announcement from chairman Ted Richardson that the club would be pressing ahead with plans to play at their own new stadium rather than ground-share with Super League neighbours Castleford.

“It’s a shame because the announcement at half-time was a very positive one, one that indicates the stadium at Newmarket is a goer,” he said.

“What should have been a very positive day for the club wasn’t positive on the field.”