Saints say goodbye in style

St Helens secured their fifth successive Grand Final appearance with a 42-22 victory over Huddersfield on an emotion-charged night at Knowsley Road.

The famous old ground was hosting its final competitive game after 120 years and Saints provided a fitting finale.

They ran in seven tries and it fell to club legend Keiron Cunningham to score the final one to seal the victory.

The veteran hooker will make one more appearance in a St Helens shirt - in next Saturday night's Grand Final at Old Trafford.

But this was far from a one-sided contest as the Giants more than matched their hosts for an hour, leading 22-18 with a quarter of the contest to play.

That after Saints had raced into a 12-0 lead courtesy of two tries from Bryn Hargreaves. The first was set up by Cunningham's short grubber kick, the second arriving after Leroy Cudjoe failed to deal with a high bomb.

Jamie Foster converted both scores and Huddersfield's run of 16 straight defeats on this ground looked set to continue.

But they roared back with two tries in five minutes midway through the half, Shaun Lunt getting in at the left corner from Brett Hodgson's long pass and after Matt Gidley was caught offside then knocked on, Michael Lawrence dived in at the opposite corner. Brett Hodgson slotted both conversions from the touchlines and the scores were level.

The Giants paid a heavy price five minutes from the break for Stephen Wild's high shot on Foster, as Paul Wellens reached over at full stretch to touch down, with Foster again converting.

But the visitors had the final say to complete a thrilling opening 40, as Lawrence chipped around Francis Meli and touched down in the corner.

Even better was to follow for the Giants seven minutes after the break as they took the lead for the first time, with former Saint Lee Gilmour touching down Brett Hodgson's grubber for a 22-18 lead.

Penalties

It was the re-introduction of Cunningham which swung the game decisively back Saints' way - along with the help of five successive penalties for a mixture of high shots and interference at the ruck.

Roby's short kick was brilliantly finished by Wellens and Cunningham's quick pass put Tony Puletua in, spinning by the posts to score and give the Saints breathing space.

Puletua turned provider on 67 minutes, offloading for Meli to score in the corner, before a trademark close-range finish from Cunningham completed a memorable night for Saints.

Now they must attempt to put the emotion behind them and end their three-year losing run in the game's Old Trafford showpiece.