St Helens' Justin Holbrook feels his side have been battle-hardened by their recent must-win games ahead of their play-off semi-final.

Having played catch-up for much of the season, Saints managed to scrape their way into the top four in the Super 8s to book themselves a play-off semi-final showdown with Castleford Tigers on Thursday.

Australian tactician Holbrook, who saw his side battle past Salford Red Devils in their last outing, feels their recent must-win mentality will hold his side in good stead for the trip to Castleford.

"The good thing for us is that we have been playing in those pressure games for a while and that will help us on Thursday," he told the St Helens Star.

"I thought Salford made it really tough for us last week and that will help us against Cas.

"If they had decided that they had had enough the week before, that would not have been good for us. Salford gave us a really tough hit out and that has put us in good stead."