St Helens cruised to victory with an easy 40-10 win away to Hull FC at the KCOM Stadium.
MATCH DETAILS
Saints have often got off to a quick start this season and it was no different against Hull FC as they raced into 12-0 lead. Morgan Knowles opened the scoring as he took a nicely weighted pass from Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and then stepped two Hull players to score in front of the sticks.
They scored again on the next set and once again Knowles was involved as he broke down field to give them good field position. Theo Fages put up a towering kick on the last tackle which was fumbled by Ratu Naulago which the Frenchman reacted first to score.
St Helens were cruising and Lachlan Coote made it 18-0. Tommy Makinson broke down the right wing and kicked it back inside. The ball was then knocked on by Marc Sneyd and touched down by Coote.
They looked to have put the game to bed in the early stages of the second half as Regan Grace scored in the corner to make it 24-0.
It looked as if it could get embarrassing for Hull as the scoring just did not stop. Saints scored their fifth as Kyle Amor kept the ball alive. Fages and Lomax then exchanged passes and Jack Ashworth bulldozed his way over.
The left side of Lomax, Coote, Percival and Grace then began to turn on the style. Percival broke down the left and passed it to Grace who then gave the ball inside to Lomax as he got in on the scoring action.
Coote scored his second as he once again combined with Mark Percival who found space before feeding it back inside to the Aussie full back.
Hull scored two consolations in the final 10 minutes with tries by Jamie Shaul and Ratu Naulago.
FOUR POINTERS
One hand on the League Leaders
This result means that unless Saints majorly combust in the latter stages of the season then they should be top of pile come the end of the regular rounds. Saints only need four wins out of their final eight games.
Classes apart
Despite the result, Hull really didn’t play that badly. It’s just unfortunate for them that Saints are the best team in the league by some distance at the moment.
Bentley stands up
It’s quite obvious for a lot of Saints fan that James Bentley is not a hooker but in his last few appearances he has showed he has a massive future at Saints. He is very much of a John Bateman type player and looks to be a certain starter in the pack in the future.
Wingers
Adam Swift was named in the squad to face his next employees but was 18th man for Saints. Meanwhile one positive in Friday’s game was once again Ratu Naulago who signed a contract to play on in 2020. Lee Radford has a difficult choice in who will start next season with them having Swift, Naulago as well as Mahe Fonau and Beretu Faraimo.
THE RESULT
Hull FC 12
Tries: Shaul, Naulago
Goals: Sneyd (2)
Drop Goals: n/a
St Helens 40
Tries: Knowles, Fages, Coote (2), Grace, Ashworth, Lomax
Goals: Coote (6)
Drop Goals: n/a
SQUADS
Hull FC: Shaul, Naulago, Connor, Griffin, Faraimo, Kelly, Sneyd, Taylor, Houghton, Paea, Manu, Minichello, Westerman
Interchanges: Bowden, Ellis, Fash, Tuimavave
St Helens: Coote, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Fages, Walmsley, Bentle, Thompson, Knowles, Peyroux McCarthy-Scarsbrook
Interchanges: Paulo, Amor, Lees, Ashworth
