SAINTS had a night to forget as they went down 32-22 at home to Hull FC.
Despite being 18-6 up at half time the visitors ran in five second half tries to condemn the Champions to their third defeat in a row.
Starting well has been a problem for Saints recently but two strong opening sets set their stall out for a solid if uninspiring first half.
The home side turned Hull on their heels and put in some big D when it was needed – although FC were guilty of two forward passes in key positions.
Adam Quinlan stopped a chasing Jamie Shaul on eight minutes and Mark Percival was unlucky not to open the scoring five minutes later following a mazy run.
Matty Fleming atoned for a loose carry with a fantastic tackle on Jordan Abdull before Mark Flanagan was denied the opener because of a forward pass.
Saints always looked the most likely – and once one of those passes stuck, it was try time.
Walsh caught Flanagan on a strong line and the second rower produced a nice offload for Luke Thompson to cross for his third of the season.
Within moments though, Hull were back in it. A loose pass deep inside their own half was scooped up and Curtis Naughton went over in the corner.
Saints hit back through Swift – Walsh and Burns combining and a wonderful cut out ball finding the winger for his 17th of the campaign.
And from the restart Roby broke down the right hand side, found Josh Jones who rounded his man and and duly sent it back inside for the hooker to finish what he started.
Walsh three from three with the boot.
Tom Lineham pulled Hull FC back into it three minutes into the second half as he polished off a fine move before the excellent Roby almost put Greenwood over.
Both sides were giving the ball some air but lacking that attention to detail when it needed.
But when Hull attacked Saints’ line on 54 minutes they profited – Joe Westerman being caught by a slightly dubious but quick pass to plunge over.
Saints got into good positions following that try but couldn’t find a way over – then Hull scored from absolutely nothing.. although it was a piece of class.
The defence was up quick and Sneyd kicked through to find Shaul at full tilt to collect the bouncing ball with the full back nowhere in sight.
Saints should have made better use of Percival’s 60 yard break on 67 minutes and they were punished moments later.
This time Matty Fleming knocked an innocuous kick and Naughton mopped up.
Saints forced the ball on the last in the final stages and Naughton completed his hat-trick.
Mark Percival scoring a scant consolation.
Match Summary:
Saints:
Tries: Thompson, Swift, Roby, Percival
Goals: Walsh (3 from 4)
Hull FC:
Tries: Naughton (3), Lineham, Westerman, Shaul
Goals: Sneyd (4 from 6)
Penalties:
Saints: 4
Hull FC: 3
HT: 18-6
FT: 22-32
REF: James Child
ATT: 10,203
Teams:
Saints:
37. Adam Quinlan; 30. Matt Fleming, 17. Mark Percival, 4. Josh Jones, 5. Adam Swift; 6. Travis Burns, 7. Luke Walsh; 14. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 25. Andre Savelio, 15. Mark Flanagan, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 18. Luke Thompson.
Subs: 3. Jordan Turner, 8. Mose Masoe, 19. Greg Richards, 21. Joe Greenwood.
Hull FC:
1. Jamie Shaul; 20. Curtis Naughton, 5. Fetuli Talanoa, 3. Setaimata Sa, 2. Tom Lineham; 27. Jordan Abdull, 7. Marc Sneyd; 8. Mickey Paea, 9. Danny Houghton, 10. Liam Watts, 12. Mark Minichiello, 17. Dean Hadley, 13. Joe Westerman.
Subs: 14. Iafeta Palea’aesina, 16. Jordan Thompson, 28. Brad Fash, 32. Jordan Rankin.
