IT has taken him half a season in the red vee, but Saints hooker Daryl Clark has now got his own terrace chant.

The huge travelling army at the Twickenham Stoop yesterday serenaded the number nine – even before he scored the first of his hat-trick of tries.

The adaptation of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark became the chant of the afternoon and an earworm for the rest of the week.

Clark was impressive on both sides of the ball, with a hat-trick and even showing his competitiveness with a chase back and ankle tap with two minutes left on the clock.

Coach Paul Wellens gave an assessment of what the veteran rake has contributed since switching from Warrington.

Wellens said: “I think he's contributed what we expected him to. He obviously a very experienced player and knows Super League and been around the game a long time, but he has still got that sharpness out of dummy half.

“He's a fantastic support player and obviously three tries in seven minutes is evidence of that.

“So it's great to see him get his rewards.”

Wellens credited the number nine with not just the tries, but what he contributed to the game overall.

“What I have always said with Daryl is when he goes out onto the field and he commits to doing the tough stuff, when he commits to his defensive work, then the attacking side of things takes care of itself,” he said.

“Daz has just said he hasn't actually scored a hat-trick since he was at Castleford a long time ago.

“So it is great for him to get the rewards off the back of doing some stuff in the game.

“He's a wonderful player and he's a wonderful support player and you see he's still got that turn of foot that has made him so dangerous for a long, long time.

“So when we brought him to the club we knew we were doing it for the right reason and at the halfway point this season, I think he's been really impressive for us.”

It was not simply what Clark did with the ball that earned the plaudits, but his defensive work – especially his determination to chase back and ankle tap the London centre with two minutes remaining.

 

Wellens said: “For me as a coach that was as impressive as any of the three tries he scored because he's showing the desire to chase back in the dying minutes of the game.

“When you're doing that and the scoreline is 52-0 might not seem as rewarding, but you're going to need those types of efforts when the score is 4-4 all in the same time frame on the clock, so it it's good for me as coach to see the players who want to find those extra efforts.”