Super League: St Helens 28-6 Hull KR - Tommy Makinson scores two tries for dominant hosts
- Published
Tommy Makinson has scored six tries in his past three games
Betfred Super League |
|---|
St Helens (6) 28 |
Tries: Mata'utia, Makinson (2), Mbye, Davies Goals: Percival 4 |
Hull KR (0) 6 |
Tries: Lewis Goals: Schnieder |
St Helens eased to a comfortable win over beaten Challenge Cup finalists Hull KR.
Sione Mata'utia got the only try of a low-key first half in the 37th minute to give the hosts a 6-0 half-time lead.
They blew the game open in the first 15 minutes of the second half, with Tommy Makinson scoring twice either side of Moses Mbye.
Mikey Lewis got the away side on the scoreboard before Ben Davies rounded off the win late on.
Victory kept Saints in third and they are now two points behind leaders Catalans, albeit having played a game more than the French league leaders.
Hull KR, beaten by a golden point winner from Leigh in Saturday's Challenge Cup final, are seventh but only outside the play-off spots on points difference.
The Robins have not won at Saints in a decade and they were under pressure for much of the first half.
Their resolve was eventually broken shortly before the break when Mata'utia grabbed a Lewis Dodd kick to touchdown.
In-form winger Makinson went over twice to take his tally to six in three games and 14 for the season, and big mid-season signing Mbye went over for his first Super League score to all-but wrap up a fourth straight win for the home side.
Lewis' score was perhaps the best of the night as he kicked through for Ethan Ryan before following his kick and receiving a pass to go over, but Davies completed the scoring for the reigning champions, who, ominously for the rest of the league, look to be hitting form at just the right time.
They travel to Castleford, who boosted their survival hopes with a win over relegation rivals Wakefield on Friday, next Friday, while the Robins will be out for revenge when they welcome Leigh on the same night.
St Helens head coach Paul Wellens:
"It was a pleasing victory. Our patience was key tonight, especially as the conditions weren't great.
"We had a hard-nosed mentality and our dominance only started to show on the scoreboard late on.
"We are missing some key personnel but that doesn't mean we can be any less effective. Whoever takes the field understands how we want to play the game.
"They came here off the back of an emotional week which is why it was important we turned up with the effort tonight.
"We finished the game stronger - I'm not sure if that fatigue was part of their Wembley experience or not."
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters:
"We hurt ourselves tonight in large parts of the game.
"We went extremely well in that first period but the errors absolutely killed us as they did last week (in the Challenge Cup final).
"I thought our middles played their backsides off but you can't make unforced errors against St Helens. At the start of the second half, Saints went bang, bang, bang.
"We made poor decisions defensively and the errors hurt us but we were playing against a very good team. St Helens played the weather perfectly."
St Helens: Welsby, Makinson, Davies, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Knowles, Roby, Delaney, Mata'utia, Batchelor, Bell.
Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Norman, Royle, Mbye.
Hull KR: Lewis, Ryan, Opacic, Kenny-Dowall, Hall, Milnes, Schneider, Kennedy, Litten, King, Batchelor, Linnett, Hadley.
Interchanges: Parcell, Storton, Keinhorst, Luckley.