St Helens' Australian coach Mick Potter was a happy man after his side overwhelmed reigning champions Leeds 41-20 in the Super League on Saturday.

Victory against the side that beat them in last season's grand final saw Saints go second in the table but defeat left Leeds outside the top eight.

"I thought the first 40 minutes was one of our best performances this year," said Potter. "Leeds came back at us in the second half which made it difficult but I can't fault the effort."

Substitute hooker James Roby scored two of St Helens' six tries and teenage winger Jamie Foster continued his remarkable goalkicking exploits.

The 19-year-old landed eight goals from as many attempts on his senior debut in last week's Challenge Cup win over Toulouse and did exactly the same against Leeds in what was his maiden Super League appearance.

"He's a very good kicker," said Potter. "He spends a lot of time with his kicking. It's his best attribute and he's not a bad rugby league player either."

Leeds staged something of a second half revival that yielded tries from Ryan Hall, Rob Burrow and Brett Delaney but their Kiwi coach Brian McClennan had no complaints about the final score.

"We got to within 11 points at one stage but we had to do too much defending in the first half and it caught up with us," he said. "We've still got to keep improving but I can see plenty of positives in the team."

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