Saints Cup heroes aiming for glorious double season

Sep 1 2008 by Ian Laybourn, Liverpool Daily Post

Hull 16, St Helens 28

ST HELENS were yesterday basking in the glory of their latest Challenge Cup triumph and immediately set their sights on the double.

Daniel Anderson’s men made a heroes’ return to Knowsley Road with the famous trophy they lifted for a 12th time thanks to a 28-16 win over Hull at Wembley but insisted they have unfinished business.

Saints did the double in 2006 but were heavily beaten by Leeds in last year’s engage Super League Grand Final and are determined to make amends this time.

They meet arch rivals Wigan at Knowsley Road on Friday in their final game of the regular season needing to avoid defeat in order to top the table for a third successive year and will then enjoy a three- day break in Madrid before embarking on the play-offs.

"Daniel promised the guys a few weeks ago that, if we took care of the job, we would have a couple of days in Madrid to relax and do a bit of training," said full-back Paul Wellens, man of the match in Saints’ 21st successive win.

"We wanted to do something a little bit different to last year and recharge the batteries because this winning streak has taken a lot out of the guys and we don’t want to go into the play-offs like we did last year, with pretty much no energy.

"We’ve delivered and he’s stuck to his promise. We are obviously going to enjoy this but we realise the importance of what is coming up.

"So we are training Monday and preparing for a very tough game against Wigan."

Saints were forced to overcome searing temperatures on the hottest day of the year – winger Ade Gardner missed the post- match celebrations because of a severe case of heatstroke – as well as gritty opposition before clinching a third successive Cup final triumph.

Captain Keiron Cunningham, who appeared in his eighth Challenge Cup final, said it felt like playing in sub-tropical conditions and admitted he was more relieved than overjoyed at the finish.

"In 1996 we played in Papua New Guinea on the Oceanic tour and it was reminiscent of that," he said.

"The first 20 minutes in that first half were just unbelievable. We could see Hull were flagging a little bit but we didn’t have the push to do anything about it.

"But we battled through it and came out on the good side of it.

"This week was probably the most nervous I’ve been in my career. I can’t really explain but it’s probably the weight of expectation.

"You are expected to win finals because you play for Saints. I wouldn’t say there was any jubilation at the end, more relief that we actually won the thing."

The match appeared to be going strictly to form when early tries from threequarters Matt Gidley and Francis Meli put the holders 10-0 up but they frittered away a host of chances before half-time and had two more tries disallowed by video referee Ashley Klein.

Two converted tries from centre Kirk Yeaman then edged Hull into a 12-10 lead just after the hour mark but Saints quickly snuffed out the threat by scoring three more times in the last 15 minutes.

Stand-off Leon Pryce demonstrated his class by creating a second try for Meli and then scoring himself while second rower Jon Wilkin also touched down after charging down an attempted clearance kick.

Pryce’s try was his first in six Cup final appearances, three of which were with Bradford, and that enabled him to fulfil a boyhood dream.

"I’m going to savour that moment for the rest of my life," he said. "It’s what you work so hard for."