ST HELENS coach Royce Simmons praised veteran Paul Wellens who marked his 400th game for the club with a second-half try in the 19-6 win over the Huddersfield Giants.

Leon Pryce and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook also crossed for the hosts in Friday’s triumph.

Simmons said of Wellens: “When there is a chance for him to score a try, he goes where a lot of people won’t go.

“He hates getting beaten and those are the sort of characters you need around.”

England forward McCarthy-Scarsbrook also received the plaudits for his solo try which put Saints 18-0 clear.

“He made the break and a lot of players, let alone front-rowers, would have panicked and tried to pass the ball,” Simmons said.

“But he backed himself to score, or at least to set up a try from the play-the-ball.”

Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown remained upbeat despite losing Australian forward Luke O’Donnell with a season-ending cruciate knee ligament injury and playmaker Danny Brough to an unspecified problem.

“Luke won’t be back probably until the middle of next year,” said Brown.

“It’s unfortunate because he is an important player for us. He has had mixed luck with injuries but when he’s played, he’s played well for us.

“Broughy has an issue which we are not sure exactly what it is or how bad it is. But it is going to be quite doubtful when he comes back and plays again. However, apart from two different individuals who made two poor defensive errors, it was our best defensive performance for a good four or five weeks.”