Saints top Women's Super League after Wolves rout
Faye Gaskin reached 500 points for St Helens in the rout of Warrington Wolves
- Published
St Helens reached the summit of the Women's Super League table with a thumping 82-0 victory over Warrington Wolves.
The home side dominated throughout, finishing with 15 tries.
Dani McGifford and Rachael Woosey both scored hat-tricks for Saints.
Warrington remain fifth in the table after their sixth defeat of the season.
It took just four minutes for St Helens to break the deadlock with a swift team move. McGifford broke down the left before Paige Travis and Faye Gaskin helped the ball on to Woosey, who scored in the corner.
Tara Jones then scored twice. First, she reached Amy Taylor's kick before crossing next to the posts. Then, her ruthless breakaway led her through the Wolves defence.
Two tries in three minutes followed. Captain Jodie Cunningham found a gap and exploited it to cross before turning provider for McGifford to score.
McGifford's second of the afternoon was a superb solo effort as she cut in from the left before storming away to touch the ball down.
Philippa Birchall was first to Gaskin's kick as it came off the post to add a seventh try of the half for Saints; Gaskin, who finished with 11 goals on the day, converted to reach 500 career points for the club.
There was still time for Cunningham to score her second try before the interval.
Within five minutes of the restart, St Helens scored twice more. Straight from kick-off, Erin McDonald capitalised on a Wolves error to score before Woosey crossed in the corner for a tenth try.
Travis got in on the act moments later as she raced through under the posts, before McGifford completed her hat-trick after she was fed by Cunningham.
Gaskin's high kick was eventually collected by Zoe Harris before she scored to the right of the posts and Katie Mottershead bundled her way over with 20 minutes remaining.
Woosey completed her hat-trick after cutting inside but the match ended on a sour note with a lengthy stoppage as Wolves' Rebecca Nixon was stretchered off with an injury.