St Helens emphasised their status as regular-season winners by prevailing 14-6 at second-placed Wigan Warriors on Thursday.
The Saints were already assured of top spot in Super League heading into the Super 8s but dealt a psychological blow to their closest challengers at the DW Stadium.
The visitors led 8-0 at the break thanks to Dominique Peyroux's first-half try, before Morgan Knowles touched down early in the second half to stretch the advantage to 14 points.
Wigan did show signs of recovery 10 minutes from time as Sam Tomkins converted his own try – the 200th score of his career.
But it was too little too late for Wigan, who could now lose second spot to Castleford Tigers this weekend.
