Since the inception of the summer era in the mid-1990s, only a handful of teams have established the right to be regarded as a truly great team. This St Helens side are not yet that, but the more performances they produce of this calibre as the season rolls on, the more you suspect something special could be brewing in this corner of the sport’s heartlands.
As irrepressible as the runaway Super League leaders have been, a statement of intent in a knockout game, given how they capitulated in both league and cup semi-finals last year, was perhaps overdue. This was that and so much more, as Saints dismantled Wakefield Trinity to book their place in Sunday’s draw for the semi-finals with the utmost of ease.
This quarter-final was over by half‑time. Some magnificent, free-flowing rugby – a fine advert for the Challenge Cup on terrestrial television – yielded four home tries, including a stunning finish from the England international Tommy Makinson, something that is fast becoming his trademark in games of this importance.
Their next hurdle has proved to be the most difficult one to clear in their recent history. This victory guaranteed a sixth semi-final appearance in a decade: but that they have lost the previous five – including last year’s shock defeat to the eventual winners, Catalans – is certainly not a healthy omen for them .
“We’re definitely better prepared to deal with a semi-final this year,” said their coach, Justin Holbrook. “The cup is brilliant and we’ve earned the right to go back to Bolton in the semis and play better than we did last year. But every big game we’ve played in this year, we’ve played well.”
Few, if any, would have stopped them in this form. For Wakefield, their sole focus now lies on making the play-offs in Super League and while they were well-beaten, they were certainly not disgraced in regards to their own performance.
“I can cop being beaten by the better team and they are the best team in the competition by a long way right now,” their coach, Chris Chester, said.
The one positive for Wakefield? The emergence of another promising young talent from their Academy. Jack Croft marked his first touch as a professional with a debut try, which briefly levelled the scores at 6-6, before Saints wrestled control of the contest with a flurry of first-half points.
Incredibly, they had not even used a single interchange by the break: and when they did rotate after half-time the free-flowing style of attack they are fast becoming renowned for did not fade. “I wanted to test their fitness in that first half,” Holbrook said, jokingly.
How his pack passed that test. Tyler Randell’s try just after half-time briefly gave Wakefield supporters hope, but the highlight of their afternoon was when a group adorned in fancy dress claimed one of Lachlan Coote’s conversions as a souvenir following a one-sided afternoon.
Saints quickly rediscovered their swagger after that Randell try – with Zeb Taia, Mark Percival and Jonny Lomax all crossing for wonderful tries.
By the time Kevin Naiqama claimed their eighth try, Saints supporters would have been forgiven for already booking their travel arrangements down the M62.
This team’s legacy under Holbrook will not be fully secured until they claim a trophy, but if they perform like this in the semi-finals, few would back against them, irrespective of the opponent.
