‘On cloud nine’ - Mark Percival marks birth of first child with try as St Helens maul Castleford Tigers

St Helens head coach Paul Wellens paid tribute to Mark Percival after the 29-year-old completed a tumultuous week by leading his side to a 22-0 Betfred Super League win over Castleford.

Percival scored one try and kicked six points just days after his partner Carys gave birth to their first child and Wellens admitted he had considered giving the influential centre the evening off.

“Obviously he’s been going through different emotions and you make decisions as a coaching group about whether it’s the right thing to play someone but Percy was adamant he was going to play,” said Wellens.

“He’s on cloud nine after becoming a father and the way he played tonight showed it was the right decision to play him. When things happen in your life, other things can seem a little less relevant and I love it when he comes out and plays so carefree.”

Early tries from Sione Mata’utia and Jack Welsby set up the simplest of wins for Saints and despite its lack of memorable moments the match proved especially satisfying for Wellens on the back of last week’s abject defeat at Hull FC.

“On another night we’d have scored more points but I went on record saying we dropped our standards last week in terms of lacking effort and turning up to a game rather than wanting to play,” added Wellens.

“What you saw tonight was 17 blokes who were committed and wanted to turn up. The most pleasing aspect about tonight was that we kept the opposition scoreless after shipping 34 points the week before.

“It wasn’t the most expansive game but after our disappointment last week it was a simple challenge to get back to working hard for each other and I thought you saw that in spades.”