Rampant Saints crush Wildcats
St Helens ran-in eight tries as they won their third Stobart Super League game in a row, beating Wakefield 38-12.
Last Updated: 04/05/12 10:10pm
St Helens ran-in eight tries as they won their third Stobart Super League game in a row, beating Wakefield 38-12.
Chris Flannery scored a hat-trick and Sol Soliola crossed twice as Saints warmed up for next Saturday's Carnegie Cup quarter-final at Wigan in style.
Wakefield were already trailing 22-6 at half-time before James Roby scored a memorable long-range try for Saints in the second half.
The Wildcats, after a weekend off following their fourth-round cup loss at Leeds, opted to leave out Isaac John and also Paul Johnson against his old club despite clearing a two-match ban.
Saints were again without England forward Jon Wilkin after he failed a fitness test on his shoulder injury, although Aussie forward Anthony Laffranchi returned after missing the 76-0 cup romp over Oldham.
Saints piled up 98 points in their two league wins last season over Wakefield and the Wildcats fell behind to a Flannery try after six minutes.
Man of the match Flannery supported Paul Wellens' incisive burst and Lomax tagged on the straightforward conversion.
Tackles
But Wakefield hit back almost immediately with the Saints defence failing to deal with Matt Wildie's high kick and Dean Collis pouncing on the loose ball with Paul Sykes converting.
Soliola was prominent for Saints with several thundering tackles but was then at fault with a handling error to allow Ben Cockayne to set up an attack.
Soliola made amends after 22 minutes by taking Wellens' pass to crash through a brave Wildie tackle and stretch over the line to make it 12-6.
Wakefield continued to strive for an opening and Danny Kirmond was only denied a try by a superb Wellens tackle.
Action man Soliola grabbed his second try after taking Roby's pass to dart 30 metres and outpace the Wildcats cover in the 29th minute.
A high tackle on Wellens increased the pressure on Wakefield who conceded a fourth try just before the break when Lomax burrowed over.
Lomax booted his third conversion to fire his side ahead 22-6 at the break.
Saints turned defence into attack early in the second half after Wakefield's Frankie Mariano spilled the ball when they threatened to score.
Lomax's grubber bounced perfectly for Flannery to notch his second try and extend the advantage to 26-6.
Roby's short pass gave Flannery his hat-trick before smart handling from Wellens and Michael Shenton put Tommy Makinson over in the corner.
Then Roby intercepted a Collis pass near his own line to sprint 90 metres for a remarkable effort and increase the lead to 38-6.
Peter Fox touched down in the corner after brushing past Meli eight minutes from time for Wakefield's second try converted by Sykes.
Saints win would have been bigger had Lomax not been off target with five of his eight goal attempts.
