Report

St Helens have moved within one point of Super League’s top four with a commanding 41-16 win against Wakefield at the Beaumont Legal Stadium.

The result pushes Trinity out of the top four on points difference as we head into the Super 8s.

Theo Fages and Danny Richardson were impressive in the halves for the Saints, as was centre Mark Percival who kicked eight goal in the victory.

The Visitors opened the scoring within the first 10 minutes as young half-back Richardson produced a moment of individual brilliance to break the deadlock.

Trinity hit straight back though as they were gifted the ball back from the restart and Matty Ashurst pounced to level the game up again.

It was an end-to-end contest but a big defensive set laid the platform for Saints to hit the front again, James Roby winning the race to Theo Fages’ kick through.

Justin Holbrook’s team were starting to play some great rugby and they were over again when Richardson and Ryan Morgan combined to set Tommy Makinson away, the winger chipping over for himself to extend the lead.

Saints were exploiting the flanks and they scored their fourth try on the half-hour as good play from Zeb Taia and Percical allowed Regan Grace a clear run to the line.

Percival kicked his fourth successful conversion as they took a deserved 24-6 lead into the break.

Chris Chester’s side needed a quick start to the second half and they got it as Scott Grix took a great offload from Dean Hadley to reduce the deficit.

Wakefield then got another try through Mason Caton-Brown, either side of two Percival penalty goals, before Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook got over for Saints to kill the momentum.

With time running out, Fages made another break and the ball eventually found Taia who sealed the win with another four-pointer to the dismay of the home fans.

There was still time for Richardson to kick a drop-goal in the final seconds as Saints produced one of their best displays of the season, running out 41-16 winners.