Challenge Cup: St Helens and Hull KR through to semi-finals of competition which returns to Wembley on August 12

St Helens showed their class and composure to eventually overcome a stubborn Hull FC side who played the entire second half with 12 men to reach the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, while injury-ravaged Hull KR swept aside Salford.

The game was on a knife edge at half-time, with the scores locked at 12-12, before Hull FC star Josh Griffin was sent off for dissent by referee Chris Kendall as the players were leaving the field for the break.

Saints showed patience to grind out the result with a man advantage in the second half, winning out 32-18 at the MKM Stadium.

The reigning Super League champions had to show resilience after losing both Mark Percival and Tommy Makinson to injury in the first half but just had too much physicality and speed for Tony Smith's side in the second period.

The visitors were steered to victory brilliantly by their spine, with Jack Welsby, in particular, starring at the back. The England international scored a try and set two up to ensure his side advanced one step closer to Wembley and subject Hull FC to their second successive defeat.

Saints took an early eight-point advantage through a converted Joe Batchelor try and Makinson penalty before converted tries to Griffin and Andre Savelio gave Hull FC an unlikely lead approaching half-time.

However, the away side hit back through Konrad Hurrell out wide to ensure the scores were level at the interval, and Griffin's dismissal left Hull FC facing an uphill battle to reach the last four.

Boasting the extra man, Saints played the perfect game in the second 40, squeezing the energy out of Hull FC and kicking clear with two tries to take control.

Curtis Sironen powered over the line before Lewis Dodd skipped through to score from close range to touch down after a great Tee Ritson break to make it a 12-point lead.

Hull FC would not go away though and gave themselves a lifeline when Jake Trueman scored in the corner on the back of a fumble from Ritson to cut the gap to six.

Joy then turned into disaster for the Black and Whites as they coughed up possession on the very next set and Saints were clinical in extending their lead again through Welsby, who left defenders in his wake to put Saints 10 points up with time running out.

Hull FC were out on their feet as the minutes ticked down and James Bell ran onto a lovely Jonny Lomax pass to score late on and rubber stamp an impressive win for the World Club Challenge champions, who have now won their last six games.

Hull KR sweep aside Salford

A dazzling debut from Tanguy Zenon helped injury-ravaged Hull KR sweep aside Salford and seal their place in the semi-finals with a 28-10 win at Craven Park.

Drafted in on loan from Catalans Dragons this week to ease Willie Peters' increasing list of absentees, the 21-year-old Frenchman scored one try and inspired a gutsy response to his side's miserable run of four straight defeats.

Those losses, which have seen Rovers sink from near the top of the table to outside the play-off zone, included a Magic Weekend defeat to the same side a fortnight ago and it was Salford who entered Saturday's game on a high on the back of eight wins from their last nine.

"It was a great performance and it was obviously what we needed," said Peters. "I'm sure everyone here still believed in the players, but they needed to go out and execute and give themselves the belief that they can still play that style.

"We don't want to look on who's not playing, it's all about who is playing. The players out there today are the ones who were knocking on the door and you want players who are ready to step in and play and put in a KR performance."

Despite a promising spell at the start of the second half, Salford came out distinctly second best and a pair of late tries from Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Dean Hadley sealed Rovers' place in the semi-finals for the second straight year.

Rovers' hunger to wrest themselves free of a forgettable spell was evident in a hard-fought first period, in which they were bolstered both by Zenon and some superb kicking by Rowan Milnes, who would ultimately boot all but one conversion as well as two short kicks that served up the crucial late brace.

Ryan Hall rolled over in the corner with five minutes gone after a lay-off from Kane Linnett and the shabby visitors lost the chance to build any kind of momentum as both Marc Sneyd and Ken Sio coughed up errors in crucial areas.

Rovers doubled their lead after 22 minutes when Zenon played a crisp one-two with Tom Opacic before racing over for his side's second, and even the temporary loss of Elliot Minchella for a high tackle six minutes prior to the interval could not spark the visitors into life.

Instead, Rovers forced the error under their own posts and capitalised moments later when Mikey Lewis ran a penalty half the length of the field, and consequently they spun it left where Linnett squeezed their third.

Home nerves began to fray at the start of the second period as Salford belatedly got their act in gear, exploiting space on the left flank, where Tim Lafai reduced the deficit to 18-4, and pinning the hosts back through a series of sets.

But for all their dominance Salford failed to make further inroads on the scoreboard and an errant play-the-ball by Sam Stone just yards from the line summed up their efforts.

Rovers seized on their reprieve as Kenny-Dowall jinked on to a short kick from the excellent Milne to grab his side's fourth try on the hour mark, then Hadley wrapped up victory after Joe Burgess fumbled another Milne kick.

Burgess went some way to making up for his error by crossing for Salford's second with one minute remaining, Sneyd's kick dragging them into double figures, but it was a day for Rovers to dream of a return to Wembley.