St Helens 0 Sydney City Roosters 38 by Chris Hall

DISGRUNTLED coach Ian Millward insists Super League champions St Helens will bounce back from their World Club Challenge humiliation at the Reebok Stadium.

His charges will need to haul their morale off the floor in time to start their title defence against Bradford Bulls on Friday after suffering a record defeat at the hands of Australian premiers Sydney City Roosters.

Five unanswered tries from the dominant tourists shattered all hopes of a third successive British triumph as Saints crumbled against far superior opposition.

"The great thing about us is that we don't lose often, but when we do we learn from our mistakes. We will learn a hell of a lot from this performance," said a philosophical Millward.

"I'm just disappointed that our display was not a true reflection of the standard of the team I coach. It was probably as disappointing for Sydney as it was for me."

The result was never truly in doubt, despite Saints managing to hold Sydney to just three Craig Fitzgibbon penalties for the opening 35 minutes.

The Roosters used their greater muscle and tactical awareness to haul the usually cavalier Saints into a forward struggle they simply could not win, before finally unleashing their lightning back line to blow the Brits away.

Saints' rot set in five minutes before the break when their defensive unit failed to close down centre Chris Flannery and his sliding kick was collected by rampaging second rower Fitzgibbon, who proved unstoppable at full pace from five yards out.

Sydney then began to cut loose and effectively ended the game on the stroke of half-time with a simply breathtaking move that went through no fewer than eight pairs of hands. Great Britain international Adrian Morley eventually cruised over the whitewash with a trail of despairing and downtrodden countrymen in his wake.

Saints' creative axis of Paul Sculthorpe, Tommy Martyn and Sean Long fought desperately to inspire some kind of fightback after the interval, but were shackled by their own forwards' inability to gain the territorial advantage.

The match was then ended as a contest as the Roosters showed great opportunism to pounce for two interception tries in the space of two minutes.

The first was a controversial long range effort by Todd Byrne, who touched down after Brett Finch appeared to knock on a pass from Long 10 yards from his own line.

And former Australia skipper Brad Fittler pounced on a Martyn pass to charge home unopposed moments later.

A further score from substitute Todd Payten and a faultless kicking display from Fitzgibbon, who ended the game with 22 points to his name, and the record rout was complete.

St Helens: Albert, Gardner, Gleeson, Newlove, Stewart, Martyn, Long, Britt, Hooper, Stankevitch, Joynt, Smith, Sculthorpe. Subs used: Ward, Jonkers, Higham, Edmondson.

Sydney: Minichiello, Byrne, Flannery, Hodges, Hegarty, Fittler, Wing, Cayless, Crocker, Cusack, Morley, Fitzgibbon, Ricketson. Subs used: Catic, Payten, Robinson, Finch.

Attendance: 19, 807.