St Helens 32-12 Wakefield: Saints set up Wolves semi-final
Last Updated: 24/09/16 3:48pm
St Helens will take on Warrington in the Super League semi-finals after beating Wakefield 32-12 at Langtree Park.
A second-half hat-trick from Shannon McDonnell sealed the win for Saints who finish fourth in Super League and head to the Halliwell Jones Stadium in the first semi-final on Thursday night, live on Sky Sports.
Saints led 12-6 at the break after taking the lead through a converted try from Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Wakefield then replied with a Craig Hall touchdown before Jack Owens crossed in the corner for the hosts.
McDonnell's hat-trick dashed the Wildcats' hopes of ending their season with a shock win before Theo Fages added a late St Helens try.
The Wildcats briefly lost Mikey Sio for a concussion assessment after only two minutes but were the first to impress with a darting run from Hall before he was barged into touch.
Saints finally broke the deadlock midway through the first half when Kyle Amor sent McCarthy-Scarsbrook barging over after Atelea Vea was held short. Back-to-back penalties enabled Wakefield to pressure Saints with Hall strolling over after a deflection, but Liam Finn missed the conversion.
Saints then scored just before the break with Walsh and Wilkin involved before Owens took a long ball from Lomax to go over in the corner and Walsh added the extras. Finn struck a penalty for Wakefield on the stroke of half-time to cut the gap to 12-6.
Wakefield lost Jordan Crowther for a concussion assessment before Joe Arundel lost his footing to be rounded by McDonnell who sped away to score in the corner. Walsh added the touchline conversion to stretch the lead to 18-6.
A missed tackle by Dominique Peyroux on Sio allowed Hall to chip ahead for Johnstone to touch down with Finn's conversion making it 18-12.
Saints then scored a third try with Turner slipping Reece Lyne's tackle for McDonnell to go over again to stretch the lead to 22-12.
McDonnell completed his treble 10 minutes from time, again courtesy of Turner before Fages danced over for a solo effort in the 78th minute.
