WITH less than two minutes gone, St Pat's lock Luke Single steams onto the ball, busts through a number of Mudgee Dragons defenders and scores between the stick.
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That moment set the tone in the Saints' opening round clash with Mudgee in the Bathurst Panthers Firetection Knockout on Friday night, the blue and whites going on to win 16-0 at Carrington Park.
It was a performance which booked them a place in Saturday's semi-final against an Orange CYMS outfit that eliminated hosts Bathurst Panthers via a 10-4 result.
Friday night's other premier league clash saw Lithgow Workies post a dominant 24-0 win over Blayney.
While each of the Saints' three tries came in the opening 20-minute half, the work they had done on their pre-season fitness under coach Zac Merritt showed.
They ran hard the whole contest and got off their line well in defence to keep Mudgee - the defending knockout champions and 2019 Group 10 premier league grand finalists - scoreless.
Their new recruits were solid - former Oberon centre Abel Lefaoseu earning plenty of praise from Saints fans as took pressure off the forwards with plenty of carries up the middle of the ruck.
But it was returning Saint Single, playing his first game for the Saints since the 2014 grand final, who dealt the first blow.
Earning back-to-back sets after the Dragons knocked-on a bomb, the lock showed his strength as he busted through his rivals to score. Joey Coughlan added the extras to make it 6-0.
It was a kick which helped the Saints to their second try as well.
With three-and-a-half minutes remaining in the opening half, Coughlan put in a grubber behind the Dragons' defence.
Winger Logan Afoie showed a brilliant pair of hands as he reeled in the low bouncing ball and slid in for a try in the right corner.
The Saints dealt the Dragons one more blow before the break and it came via captain-coach Merritt. He charged over between the sticks with 23 seconds left on the clock. It gave Coughlan an easy conversion.
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Though the Saints were unable to add to their tally in the second half, their defensive effort was a highlight.
Even after Mudgee forced a line drop-out with 52 seconds left, the Saints' defence could not be breached.
The Saints will need that same sort of defensive starch to get past CYMS when they clash in the semi-final at 1.55pm on Saturday.
