Saints hold nerve and Cup

St Helens claimed a third successive Challenge Cup victory but they were made to battle all the way before seeing off Hull 28-16.

The Black and Whites led 12-10 with just 15 minutes to go, but once again Saints held their nerve on the big occasion and the famous old trophy is heading back to Merseyside for another year.

St Helens came into the game as 11/1 on favourites but only edged ahead on 66 minutes through Francis Meli's try before a late Leon Pryce score settled an absorbing contest played in baking temperatures.

Hull came up with too many errors in the first half and were fortunate to only trail 10-0 at the interval.

Australian stand-off Matt Gidley put Saints ahead after just six minutes after a typically neat handling move.

On 18 minutes Hull should have levelled only for Lee Byrne to knock on as he reached for the try-line and Saints counter-attacked in deadly style.

Orchestrated

The break was orchestrated by Sean Long and Leon Pryce before Meli raced in from distance.

Both sides had chances before the break, only for Graham Horne to be stopped just short of the line, Willie Talau to be denied by a forward pass call and Meli to be penalised by the video ref for a double movement in the act of scoring.

Saints started the second half in similar dominating fashion and looked set to cross again inside three minutes.

But skipper Keiron Cunningham's looping pass was read and intercepted by Kirk Yeaman, who outsprinted Pryce in an 80 metre foot race.

The tide looked to heading against the holders when a Long try was disallowed for obstruction and Paul Wellens was adjudged to have knocked on deep in his own half.

From the resulting scrum the ball was spread wide and Yeaman scored in the corner, Danny Tickle adding the extras from the touchline for the lead.

Resilient

Hull could scent an upset but Saints are nothing if not resilient.

Helped by Gareth Carvell's offside, they quickly hit back, Pryce putting Meli in at the corner.

Wilkin's charge down and score looked to have settled it before Hull roared back through Gareth Raynor in the corner with seven minutes left.

That set up a grandstand finish for the 82,000 Wembley crowd but as usual it was the Saints fans doing the celebrating.

Tickle knocked on from the kick-off and with the defence expecting a drop goal attempt from Long, Pryce brushed off tackles to score the decisive try.