WHEN the plan for summer rugby was first hatched it was supposed to be about sun-baked shirt sleeved crowds watching free-flowing football on nice, firm pitches.

A decade on, Super League X kicked off in swirling wind and foul rain which made running rugby impossible, soaked the 13,378 crowd to the skin and caused Knowsley Road's electronic scoreboard to pack up.

Despite those weather induced difficulties there were still promising flashes of what lies in store for the season ahead, particularly on the right hand flank where new Aussie centre Jamie Lyon showed his class in the manner that he created two late tries with his well-placed kicks.

Although the Aussie Test centre was starved of ball in the first half due to Saints half backs' safety first insistence on turning the ball back inside, Lyon made the most of the scraps he was thrown in the latter stages.

The game was already in the bag at 26-12 when Keiron Cunningham weaved his way up the right hand side before finding Lyon, who effortlessly took the pass with one hand and despite the tight space was able to place a perfect kick for his speedy wing partner Darren Albert to touch down.

And as if to prove it was no fluke he performed the same feat four minutes from time after speedy prop Mark Edmondson had called for the ball in similar circumstances.

Sandwiched in between young substitute James Roby showed good awareness to catch the Widnes defence half asleep to storm over in the corner.

Although the final scoreline was possibly harsh on the industrious Vikings, it was a reflection on Saints' clinical finishing in desperate conditions. Maybe the gulf would have been wider had the sticky pitch not been such a leveller.

Hard working debutant Paul Anderson once again demonstrated he is more than the 20 minute man he was at Bradford and gave Saints opening try scorer Nick Fozzard the heavyweight back up he was missing last term.

Man of the match Paul Sculthorpe guided his team around the park well and was well supported by try scorers Paul Wellens, Sean Long and Mick Higham.

Mark Edmondson continued where he left off in the pre-season games and was rewarded for his toil with the last try of the match.

Of the youngsters, James Graham grafted hard and showed some nice touches with the ball, although he did show a little naivety in getting sin-binned early on for holding down.

And Jon Wilkin also revelled in the extra responsibility at stand off and the development of his kicking game showed promise for the future.

Saints: Wellens; Gardner, Talau, Lyon, Albert; Sculthorpe, Long; Fozzard, Higham, Anderson, Gilmour, Graham, Wilkin. Subs: Bennett, Edmondson, Cunningham, Roby.