Nine-try Saints hammer Broncos to return to top

Daryl Clark's second-half treble was a proper hat-trick - scored in succession

Betfred Super League

London (0) 6

Tries: Kershaw Goals: O Leyland

St Helens (24) 52

Tries: Blake 2, Dodd, Mbye, Clark 3, Hurrell, Percival Goals: Percival 8

St Helens roared back to the top of Super League as they ran in nine tries to hammer London Broncos at The Stoop.

Despite the loss of England winger Tommy Makinson with a third-minute injury, Saints had the game effectively won with a blitz of four tries in the space of 18 first-half minutes - the first two from Waqa Blake, then further efforts from Lewis Dodd and Moses Mbye.

At 24-0 up after 25 minutes, it looked like they might be rewriting the record books on London's well supported first return to The Stoop in 11 years.

But the Broncos could find no further way through for the rest of the first half - and it took a burst of three tries in eight second-half minutes - all from Saints skipper Daryl Clark - to close out the contest.

Konrad Hurrell and Mark Percival also crossed to make it 52-0 with two minutes left as Saints homed in on their record margin of victory against London in their various guises down the years, 54-0 in 2008.

Instead Broncos finished strongly, breaking downfield to get their only try from winger Lee Kershaw, duly converted by half-back Oli Leyland.

But they remain bottom with just two points - and were outclassed again on a weekend when Hull FC won for only the second time this season to move two points clear of them.

Playing in their first game at their old Twickenham ground since 2013 due to the unavailability of their current home at Plough Lane, Wimbledon, the hosts needed a good start if they were to enjoy a a repeat of their three home wins in recent years over Saints - two at Ealing and one at The Stoop.

But in front of a boisterous home crowd it was the visitors who got on top after Australian winger Blake scored an early try and then went in for his second from a long Mbye bullet pass.

Sione Mata'utia proved too strong in a break down the middle to set up Dodd for try number three before Mbye then got in on the act.

Percival kicked the first four of his eight successful conversions out of nine and it looked like there would be a lot more points on offer.

London held on until early in the second half when James Bell cleverly offloaded to Clark - and the captain did not have to wait long for his second try on 50 minutes, once again set up by Bell. He completed a proper hat-trick when he found space in midfield and showed the pace to race clear and touch down.

But the visitors only crossed twice more, through Hurrell and Percival, before Broncos at least had the final word with that late consolation try.

As well as Makinson, who faces a month out with a foot injury, Saints also suffered injury blows to Ben Davies and Curtis Sironen.

London Broncos coach Mike Eccles:

"They were excellent. You've got £4m against £1m in terms of spend, X amount of internationals against whatever we've got and, if they play as well as they did and we make a few errors and they punish us like that, that's just the way it is.

"You can say it's daunting but this is why we got promoted. This is what we want to do.

"We'll stand up tall, we'll walk in there with our chests puffed out and heads held high and we'll give it everything we can.

"Scoring at the end epitomises that. Trying to score, short kick-offs, and they don't give in."

St Helens coach Paul Wellens:

"It's looking like a bit of a plantar fascia issue for Tommy Makinson, which he's had previously, in 2019, which kept him out for about four weeks.

"So something similar to that. We'll get the assessments done and see where we're at but it seems like a similar injury to what he had back then.

"It's always a tricky game. You're up against a team who sit where they do in the ladder but they're competitive. We had to come here and match that enthusiasm.

"Across the board we were really good. Our experienced players, Daryl Clark and Moses Mbye were very impressive, but they were supported by many more."

London: Walker; Kershaw, Storey, Bassett, Miloudi; O Leyland, Meadows; Bienek, Tison, Kennedy, Lovell, Natoli, Jones.

Interchanges: Adebiyi, Williams, Stock, Waine.

St Helens: Welsby; Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Blake; Dodd, Mbye; Delaney, Clark, Lees, Bell, Sironen, Mata'utia.

Interchanges: Pa'asi, Davies, Royle, Stephens.

Referee: James Vella.