St Helens 34-30 Wakefield: Super League leaders edge thriller
By Simon Mail
Last Updated: 30/06/18 5:46pm
Super League leaders St Helens held off a superb comeback from Wakefield Trinity to clinch a thrilling 34-30 win and move six points clear at the top.
St Helens led 20-16 at half-time before Trinity rallied and scored 20 points without reply to take the lead.
But Justin Holbrook's side scored three tries in the last 20 minutes to hold off their opponents and extend their winning run to ten games in all competitions.
Regan Grace opened the scoring as the winger notched his tenth try of the Super League season following a burst of pace. Wakefield responded strongly and a misplaced pass from Ryan Morgan enabled Tom Johnstone to level the match.
St Helens produced an exquisite attack which released Jonny Lomax as he grounded the ball to reclaim the lead. Danny Richardson added a third try for the hosts after the video referee decided Tommy Makinson did not knock the ball prior to the score.
Wakefield, the last team to beat St Helens, started the second half strongly and were rewarded with an excellent try finished off by Ryan Hampshire.
Trinity had all the momentum and their pressure was rewarded with a try from Jacob Miller after he ran onto his own kick to bring his side to within two points of St Helens.
Wakefield's superb fightback continued as the visitors took the lead for the first time when Mason Caton-Brown finished from close-range.
Trinity punished their opponents midway through the half when Johnstone finished off another attack for his second try of the game which made it 26-20 to the visitors.
St Helens finally came to life with just over 15 minutes remaining and a stunning counter-attack from their own half, led by Mark Percival, set up Grace to race clear for his second try of the match.
The hosts kept the pressure on and were rewarded with a close-range finish from hooker James Roby which fired them into a 30-26 lead.
St Helens quickly scored again with Zeb Taia grounding the ball to stretch their lead in the final ten minutes.
Wakefield were not finished and Reece Lyne scored in the corner with one minute remaining but St Helens held on for a dramatic win.
