St Helens: World Club Challenge win 'seismic for British rugby league'
- Published
St Helens players celebrate after Lewis Dodd's golden point drop-goal gave them an historic win down under
St Helens coach Paul Wellens praised his side's "monumental victory" over NRL champions Penrith Panthers in the World Club Challenge.
A golden point drop-goal from Lewis Dodd gave the Super League side the win in Sydney in Saints legend Wellens' first game in charge.
It made them the first English team to win the title in Australia since Wigan beat Brisbane in 1994.
"It is obviously a seismic moment for British rugby league," Wellens said.
"We came over here with a determination around getting a result and had the belief that we could win.
"At the same time we knew we had to play well and go through periods where it was extremely tough.
"I have just said to the players it is a monumental victory."
Wellens took over as coach from highly-successful Australian Kristian Woolf at the end of last season.
The former full-back will now turn his attentions to trying to guide Saints to an unprecedented fifth successive Grand Final victory.
Veteran Roby reaches 'pinnacle'
James Roby made his St Helens debut in 2004 and was part of the last Saints team to win the World Club Challenge in 2007
Skipper James Roby delayed his retirement plans by a season to turn out once again in 2023.
The hooker, who played alongside Wellens the last time Saints won the World Club Challenge in 2007, acknowledged that beating Penrith was the peak of his long and storied career.
"This has probably got to be the pinnacle of my career, to come over here and play against this Penrith team when everybody wrote us off, nobody fancied us to win the game," the 37-year-old said.
"But we always had that inner belief, we know what we are about and how we can perform. We went out and did that."
Match-winner Dodd, 21, is at the opposite end of his career to Roby but had extra reason to savour their success.
An Achilles injury sidelined him for the majority of last season and meant he missed the Grand Final win over Leeds in September.
"It's a moment you dream of as a kid, it doesn't get any better and I'm just proud to live it with these lads," he said of his drop-goal. "I knew from the moment I got a clean shot that it was going over.
"You can't experience the highs in this game unless you go through the lows.
"We knew Penrith were going to come back at us but we stuck at it and believed in ourselves."