McRae pledges to stiffen the Saints

Rugby League

DAVE HADFIELD

The new coach of St Helens, Shaun McRae, has promised to add defensive steel to the club's traditional flair. McRae, the former assistant coach to Australia and the Canberra Raiders, arrived to take up his post yesterday and said that the talent was already at the club to enable them to match Wigan.

"There is a lot of work to be done," McRae said, "but the potential is there to be consistent - and that is what wins competitions."

McRae has watched tapes of Saints' games, including their recent Regal Trophy final defeat by Wigan. "St Helens were very unlucky, but, at the end of the day, they didn't win. If you can be consistent in your overall performance against Wigan, then you've got a chance," he said. "That is the first thing I'll be looking for."

McRae has left Canberra after six successful years, "because I fancied a change. I had it in my mind that my next move would be as a head coach. The fact that it is at St Helens is tremendous for me.

"The situation is very much like that at Canberra, where we we're scoring a lot of points but having a lot scored against us.

"We did something about the defence without spoiling the attack."

Saints' captain, Bobbie Goulding, publicly critical of the sacking of the club's previous coach, Eric Hughes, made his peace with the new regime at McRae's welcoming press conference.

"We were all shocked by Eric going and no one was more disappointed than me," he said. "But I'm looking forward to working under Shaun. I know it is going to be very hard, but I'm looking forward to every minute of it."

McRae, who was sought by other Australian clubs as well as being hotly tipped as Canberra's next head coach, trained his squad yesterday and takes charge of them in a match for the first time when they meet Castleford in the Challenge Cup on Saturday.

Hughes is one of three coaches heading the field for the position at London Broncos that fell vacant when Gary Grienke was dismissed on Tuesday. Brian Johnson, who resigned at Warrington earlier this month, and Clive Griffiths, who was overlooked as his successor, are also on a short-list of contenders.

"I would be foolish not to find out whether coaches of this calibre were interested in joining us," said the club's chairman, Barry Maranta.