ROYCE SIMMONS lavished praise on his St Helens young guns after the visitors prepared for the Super League play-offs with a 34-16 win at Harlequins on Saturday.

The Saints produced a 30-point second-half to wipe out a half-time deficit, with winger Tom Armstrong the star of the show thanks to a hat-trick of tries. But with the likes of Carl Forster making his debut, and both Andrew Dixon and Matty Ashurst getting some useful playing time, Simmons was eager to focus on his second stringers.

“I think the best part of the performance is that we came down here with 18 guys to play, and 15 of them have come through our academy,” the Saints coach said.

“To come here and give players some much-needed game time ahead of the play-offs is a big thing for us and will really stand us in good stead.”

Armstrong gave the visitors an early lead when he crossed in the corner, but with Saints coughing up a few handling errors the hosts took advantage to enter the break ahead.

Karl Temata and Karl Pryce each scored tries for the Londoners.

However, everything that went wrong before the interval went right after it for St Helens as Armstrong completed his trio, as well as further scores from Lee Gaskell, Scott Hale and former Quin Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook.

Jamie O’Callaghan did grab another try for Harlequins, but it was mere consolation.