Saints beat Hull FC 42-10 in East Yorkshire on Monday evening, as they retained the Steve Prescott trophy in impressive fashion with Jack Welsby, returning to the same ground where he wrote himself in the history books, bagging a hat-trick.
Saints took an early fifth minute lead in East Yorkshire as Joel Thompson reacted quickest to a James Roby grubber kick to score his first try for Saints. Lachlan Coote hit the post with the conversion, 4-0 Saints led.
Hull went close to levelling the scores five minutes later, but Jack Welsby made a great last ditch tackle to deny Bureta Faraimo scoring over on Hull’s right-hand side.
The Champions’ lead was extended in the 13th minute. Kevin Naiqama with a great one-handed offload down the right side to find Tommy Makinson and our winger forced his way over the try-line despite Connor Wynne’s best efforts to stop him. Coote’s conversion from the right touchline went wide, 8-0.
Then in the 19th minute Coote added a penalty from in front of the sticks after a high Ligi Sao shot on Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook to extend our lead to 10-0.
Welsby added our third try at the ground where he scored one of the most memorable tries in Saints history. A Lewis Dodd kick wasn’t dealt with by Hull, Coote threw it backwards where it landed in Welsby’s hands, and the makeshift winger dummied a few Hull tackles to score to the left of the sticks! Coote added the extras, 16-0 to the Saints.
Hull went close to grabbing their first try of the game ten minutes before the break after Saints could not deal with a high kick, fortunately for us though Welsby made another great try-saving tackle to prevent the hosts.
Saints looked like they had their fourth try five minutes before the break. A high Jonny Lomax kick was dropped by Adam Swift under pressure from Makinson, and Naiqama picked up the loose ball to score in the right-hand corner. However, the video referee deemed Makinson had obstructed the former Saint and the Black and Whites were awarded a penalty, it remained 16-0 to the Saints.
Hull then responded from the penalty, a high Marc Sneyd kick was not dealt with and the former Saint Swift picked up the loose ball to stroll in down the Hull left-hand side. Sneyd missed the conversion as Saints led 16-4 at the break after a dominant opening 40 minutes in East Yorkshire.
Hull grabbed another try six minutes into the second half. A high kick to their right-hand side was collected by Faraimo and the USA international scored in the right corner. Sneyd added the extra two points, 16-10 Saints led. Nine minutes later Saints won a penalty after Coote was caught high by Sneyd. The penalty hit the post but Saints managed to force a dropout after trapping Hull in-goal, it remained 16-10 to the Saints.
Coote had another chance to add two points a minute later, as Jordan Johnstone was sent to the sin bin for a late hit on Dodd, he made no mistake this time and extended our lead to 18-10.
We followed that up with our fourth try of the evening. A big Mark Percival break was followed by another carry down the middle from Coote, On the last Roby put through another grubber kick and Kyle Amor reacted quickest on his 200th Saints appearance to increase our lead! Coote added the extras from in front, 24-10 Saints led.
Our fifth try followed in the 67th minute. A grubber kick from Coote this time close to the Hull line found Naiqama and the Fijian made no mistake grounding the loose ball, and this time the try was awarded by the referee! Coote added the extras, 30-10 to the Saints.
Welsby looked to have grabbed his second try of the game after collecting a Lomax cut-out pass on the left wing. He ran in further to try and improve the kicking angle for Coote – and to score in virtually the same position as he did so in that historic Grand Final. Coote added the extra two to extend our lead to 36-10.
Welsby, who clearly loves this ground, crowned his performance by completing his hat-trick on the hooter. Dodd kicked a loose ball upfield before collecting it and finding his former Saints Academy partner in crime who ran almost half the length of the pitch to grab his third try of the game. Coote added the extra two as Saints added another two points to their tally and returned to Super League action in style.
Hull FC Team: Connor Wynne, Bureta Faraimo, Mahe Fonua, Cameron Scott, Adam Swift, Josh Reynolds, Marc Sneyd, Ligi Sao, Jordan Johnstone, Chris Satae, Manu Ma’u, Jordan Lane, Joe Cator.
Interchanges: Brad Fash, Ben McNamara, Jack Brown, Mitieli Vulikijapani.
Tries: Adam Swift (37), Bureta Faraimo (46)
Conversions: Marc Sneyd (1 from 2)
Sin Bin: Jordan Johnstone (58), Ligi Sao (72)
Saints Team: Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Jack Welsby, Jonny Lomax, Lewis Dodd, Alex Walmsley, James Roby, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Joel Thompson, Joe Batchelor, Morgan Knowles.
Interchanges: Matty Lees, Sione Mata’utia, Kyle Amor, Aaron Smith.
Tries: Joel Thompson (5), Tommy Makinson (13), Jack Welsby (23, 74, 80), Kyle Amor (63), Kevin Naiqama (67)
Conversions: Lachlan Coote (5 from 7)
Penalties: Lachlan Coote (2 from 3)
HT: 4-16
FT: 10-42
Attendance: 7038
