ALL IS WEL
Saints full-back Jack is on fire for the champions
Hull FC 38
By JULIE STOTT
JACK WELSBY got Hull in his sights and used them as target practice as Saints marched on.
The champions’ full-back scored one great solo try, set up two more and generally snuffed the life out of Hull.
By contrast, Hull captain Luke Gale simply shot his own side in the foot with a dangerous challenge.
He saw red in the 29th minute for a studs-up collision with Jonny Lomax as he tried to charge down his kick.
That, plus an earlier sin-bin for centre Connor Wynne for a dangerous tip tackle on Welsby, meant the home side never had a prayer of winning.
But Hull coach Brett Hodgson refused to lay into his players, instead taking aim at referee Chris Kendall.
He said: “Saints were the better team and we got taught some lessons but
6 St Helens
some of the adjudicating didn’t help. We see Connor Wynne where the player literally jumps and puts his head into the ground and we get punished. It was very harshly dealt with.
“There were some disappointing moments but some penalties were very harshly adjudicated.”
Saints coped the better with some atrocious weather. Coach Kristian
Woolf said: “We had to use our kicking game a bit better but I thought our blokes did that really well.
“I was really happy with them. We defended well and played some good footy despite the conditions.”
Welsby said: “We wanted to make it tough. They have a big physical pack and getting over the top of them in tough conditions is a big plus for us.”
Mark Percival gave Saints an early lead with his 100th touchdown for the club, following good work by Konrad Hurrell.
Welsby set up Saints’ next try for Josh Simm (below), while Wynne was in the sin-bin, with a perfectly timed pass.
He repeated the honours for Simm later in the first half, with an even better pass.
Tommy Makinson added all three conversions and also kicked a penalty for a 20-0 half-time lead.
And when Welsby scored a terrific solo try, racing on to his own deft kick, Hull looked down and out.
The 12 men did get the consolation of a converted try from Josh Griffin.
But it simply fired Saints up, with tries from Sione Mata’utia and Lewis Dodd rounding off a dominant win.
HULL FC: Try: Griffin. Con: McIntosh. ST HELENS: Tries: Percival, Simm (2), Welsby, Mata’utia, Dodd. Pen: Makinson. Cons: Makinson (6).