CHAMPIONS BOW OUT WITH GRACE
Two-try Regan and sin bin take toll on heroic Hull
JUSTIN HOLBROOK led the tributes to heroic Hull after the beaten cup holders played their full part in a classic quarter-final despite a trio of yellow cards and injuries.
Saints scored 12 points while the visitors were down to 11 men in the first half with Danny Houghton and Danny Washbrook sin-binned, before Masi Matongo followed them with a yellow card after the break.
The Black and Whites – who have been beset by injuries all season – also lost three more players to the treatment table during the match in Dean Hadley, Sika Manu and Houghton. But Lee Radford’s side were still trying to win the game in a desperate final minute before one last tired error saw Saints progress.
Aussie Holbrook – who hailed two-try winger Regan Grace’s performance – said: “I want to give Hull a rap for the way they played.
“You could see why they’ve won it the last two years, they just kept coming.
“I thought because they lost a few in the bin we were panicking a bit when I was really expecting us to put it away.
“I thought our gamemanagement struggled at the back end of the second half and we were trying too hard. We needed to be a bit more patient in that area, but on the flip side I’m really happy with how hard we worked to win.”
The Saints boss’s counterpart Radford had mixed emotions at the end of Hull’s first Challenge Cup defeat for three years.
He said: “I’m as disappointed as I’ve been, but unbelievably proud.
“There was nothing left at the end – literally nothing left – and sometimes that’s all you can ask as a coach.
“We matched them in every department and didn’t lay down, we kept coming.”
Asked for his opinion on the three yellow cards, he added: “It’s irrelevant. If we get them we get them, if we don’t we don’t. I can’t have any influence on that and I could get a fine.
“There was two or three penalties there for back-chat and I can have an influence on that. The other ones we’ve just got to cop.”
Saints led 23-12 at the break after the excellent Grace and his centre partner Mark Percival both touched down twice, each grabbing a try with Hull reduced to 11 men.
The visitors stayed in the game when Albert Kelly and Chris Green replied, and second-half tries from Scott Taylor and Hakim Miloudi set up the grandstand finale.