Super League: Jonny Lomax stars as St Helens win 32-0 against Toronto Wolfpack

Jonny Lomax got the first two St Helens tries in his side's comfortable victory over Toronto

St Helens stand-off Jonny Lomax ran in his first two Super League tries of the season as the reigning champions comfortably saw off Toronto Wolfpack.

Lomax's double sparked a five-try haul as Saints became the first side to beat the Canadian newcomers to nil in their short history.

James Bentley, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Aaron Smith crossed too before Wolfpack were reduced to 12 men.

Bodene Thompson was shown a red card for his shoulder charge on Matty Lees.

The already weakened Wolfpack went into the game at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium on the back of a new blow after finding out that prop Brad Singleton will be out for lateral medial ligament knee surgery.

And the loss of Thompson to a likely suspension on a nasty freezing night will just add to coach Brian McDermott's squad-strength problems.

McDermott gave a debut to on-loan Wigan forward Jack Wells, but centre Chase Stanley may still be a couple of weeks off playing. although he has finally arrived in the country after visa delays,

Taking it to the Wire again

The Wolfpack had initially planned to stage this 'home' game at Saracens' Allianz Park as part of a promotional 'London Series'.

But, when that had to be shelved at short notice, the game was rescheduled to the Halliwell Jones, where Toronto were beaten by Warrington just eight days before.

Last week's performance showed signs of further progress as McDermott's men ran in four tries for a season's best 22 points.

But, once Saints had raced into an 18-0 lead after 26 minutes, there was no way back as Toronto slumped to a fifth straight defeat.

Fresh from their narrow 20-12 World Club Challenge defeat by Sydney Roosters a week ago, Saints claimed their third win in four league games to climb to second, two points behind leaders Castleford, who have played a game more.

Toronto are back in action on Thursday when they return to Headingley, scene of their opening day defeat by Castleford, to this time face Leeds Rhinos. Saints' next game is at home to Huddersfield next Friday night.

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Toronto coach Brian McDermott:

"I'm seeing some really encouraging signs and I'm remaining positive on this performance. We've been improving gradually for the last four weeks.

"Certainly we got a fair few things wrong with the ball but Saints were great defensively. That had all the hallmarks of a 60-10 loss if you look at the completion rate and the amount of soft errors.

"In that respect I saw a huge amount of commitment in defence and I saw some tough blokes going through tough periods. Parts of that game really encouraged me about where we're at as a group.

"They are the hard things you've got to put into a team, the toughness and the resilience. While the scoreline and the zero don't look pretty, there's certainly things we can take and build on."

St Helens coach Kristian Woolf:

"It wasn't easy coming off the back of such a big game last week when we threw so much energy into it and to get over the disappointment of not getting the result.

"It wasn't quite the same big occasion or the same atmosphere so the group deserve a lot of credit. I was particularly happy with the way we defended both halves.

"They are a team that challenge you and we handled them really well. We stuck to our attack in the first half.

"We got a bit sloppy in the second half but our defence made up for it and overall we handled the conditions pretty well."

Toronto Wolfpack: Gigot; Kay, Wallace, Leutele, Russell; O'Brien, McCrone; Sidlow, Ackers, Springer, Thompson, Williams, Wilkin.

Interchanges: Mullally, Olbison, Miloudi, Wells.

St Helens: Welsby; Makinson, Naiqama, Bentley, Grace; Lomax, Fages; Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Taia, Peyroux, Knowles.

Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lees, Paulo, Smith.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths (RFL).