Wakefield 16-41 St Helens: Six-try Saints thrash Trinity

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Match stats: Wakefield 16-41 St Helens

Wakefield tries: Ashurst (11), Grix (42), Caton-Brown (60)
Goals: Finn (11,42) 

St Helens tries: Richardson (8), Roby (17), Makinson (21), Grace (30), McCarthy-Scarsbrook (70), Taia (75)
Goals: Percival (8, 17, 21, 30, 55, 67, 70, 75)
Drop-goals: Richardson (80)

Match report

Salford were the big winners on the final day of the regular Betfred Super League season after Wakefield went down 44-16 at home to St Helens to drop out of the top four.

Trinity had the chance to enter the Super 8s by securing third place but they were outplayed by an impressive Saints outfit who kept alive their own semi-final bid with a fifth successive win at Belle Vue and only a second away win in the league in 2017.

The outcome means that Salford end the 23-game season in fourth place despite losing six of their last seven matches and in doing so claim an extra home game in the Super 8s.

Wakefield were boosted by the return of skipper Danny Kirmond and centre Reece Lyne for his 100th Super League appearance, but they looked out of sorts for much of the game.

St Helens, on the other hand, were lively from the start with half-backs Theo Fages and Danny Richardson sparking a series of dangerous attacks.

And it was Richardson, proving such an able deputy for the injured Matty Smith, who opened the scoring on eight minutes, jinking his way over for a try after forcing a drop-out.

Mark Percival kicked the first of his eight goals from as many attempts to make it 6-0 but Wakefield drew level four minutes later when former Saints second-rower Matty Ashurst took Liam Finn's pass to cross for a try after St Helens centre Ryan Morgan had gone for the interception.

Finn's goal made it 6-6 but the rest of the half belonged to the visitors, who regained the lead through impressive hooker James Roby after he touched down a grubber kick from Fages which struck an upright.

Richardson and Morgan then combined to get right winger Tommy Makinson into space and he showed his class with a neat kick ahead before winning the race to the ball.

Another sweet passing move enabled left winger Regan Grace to cross for the eighth in 16 Super League appearances and Percival's fourth goal made it 24-6 at the break to leave Wakefield's top-four hopes hanging by a thread.

The Yorkshire side were rejuvenated following coach Chris Chester's interval pep talk and pulled a try back within three minutes of the restart when second rower Dean Hadley squeezed a pass out of the tackle for full-back Scott Grix to touch down.

Finn's second goal cut the gap to 12 points and Trinity added a third try when Finn delayed his pass superbly to get winger Mason Caton-Brown over at the corner.

However, Saints finished the game strongly, with Percival kicking two penalties and forwards Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Zeb Ta'a scoring tries before Richardson wrapped up the scoring with a last-minute drop goal.

Match reaction

St Helens coach Justin Holbrook on his side's position going into the Super 8s: "I'm definitely happy with where we are. Everyone was asking after the Leeds game if the season was over but I knew it wasn't.

"We're showing we're right in the mix, which is exciting. We're heading in the right direction for sure. I would have liked to carry on but unfortunately we're not in the Challenge Cup semis so we'll have a week off. We've clawed our way back and we can't afford to relax.

"It was a really good performance from us today. We knew we needed it. The first half was really pleasing. We knew how big a game it was for both teams and we really turned up. We lost our way a bit in the second half but found it again at the back end."

On Richardson's display: "He's loving playing and it's great for us to have him in there," Holbrook said. "If he continues the way he's playing, he'll be hard to hold out."

Wakefield coach Chris Chester on defeating costing his side a top-four finish and around £70,000 in potential gate receipts after missing out on an extra home game in the Super 8s: "We didn't get off to great start. They came out of the blocks a lot quicker and got some momentum.

"We couldn't contain their pack and we got taught a few lessons from a red-hot team. Even when we were 12 points behind late on, I always felt confident we could get back into the game but that first half really hurt us. That was where the game was lost. We showed a bit of fight and spirit in the second half but just came up short.

"It hurts that we've thrown away third spot and thrown away fourth spot but I'm also proud of this group of players because we've achieved what people thought we couldn't, the top six. We've shown some progression this year and, when we look back, a couple of games have hurt us.

"We've made it a little bit tougher for ourselves with only three home games but we've been written off all season and we'll use that to motivate us.

"We'll have some time off now and hopefully come back stronger for the Super 8s."

Wakefield gave a debut to former Salford forward James Hasson and Chester revealed the club are close to announcing another new signing. They lodged the registration with the RFL before Friday's transfer deadline and hope to complete the paperwork this week.