Both St Helens and Hull FC have progressed to Round Four of the Challenge Cup after defeating amateur opposition with both teams flooding in a mix of new debutants and youngsters.
Whilst the three Super League sides in Friday night Challenge Cup action had made the prospect of beating lower league opposition look easy with scores of 48-12, 44-2 and 60-0 for each of Wigan Warriors, Hull KR and Leigh Leopards respectively, Catalans Dragons had done it the hard way earlier on Saturday.
Steve McNamara’s side only managed to beat Halifax Panthers 14-0 with the game a stalemate until the 54th minute and six of those points coming with 90 seconds to go.
Leeds Rhinos went full strength and saw off Southern Conference side Wests Warriors 92-0 so the pressure was then on both St Helens and Hull FC to put in strong performances against northern community clubs.
Hull FC beat York Acorn as Martin scores hattrick
⏱️ 𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟-𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘: York Acorn 6-52 Hull FC
Into the hat for the Fourth Round 🏆🎩
⚫️⚪️ #COYH | @ecostrad pic.twitter.com/s77VrYqsUN
— Hull FC (@hullfcofficial) February 8, 2025
Hull FC head coach John Cartwright named arguably the weakest squad of any Super League coach with plenty of presumed starters rested for the clash against York Acorn, however, there were competitive debuts for signings such as Cade Cust and John Asiata.
Asiata spilled a chance to get FC on the board after five minutes but winger Lewis Martin made no such mistake in the corner not long after.
Unlike the Leeds game where an early try led to the floodgates bursting, Acorn actually hit back with the scores level after 20 minutes following Clayton Shepardson’s try.
Star signings Cust and Asiata then stepped up and both scored with Denive Balmforth’s late first-half try ensuring a 24-6 lead at the break, something that was quickly added to through Lewis Martin and Lloyd Kemp.
The Black and Whites ran in three more tries with Martin completing his hattrick before fellow winger Harvey Barron scored a brace to make it a 52-6 win.
St Helens into Round Four of Challenge Cup after delay
✅ The Saints beat West Hull at Sewell Group Craven Park to progress into the Fourth Round of the Challenge Cup #COYS | @LPL_Airport pic.twitter.com/vLPIFdLmV4
— St.Helens R.F.C. (@Saints1890) February 8, 2025
As for St Helens, their game against West Hull was delayed as an unprecedented number of fans turned up at Craven Park for the occasion. Paul Wellens handed competitive debuts to signings Lewis Murphy and Tristan Sailor, both of whom shone.
It took 15 minutes before Saints broke through with Sailor the creator for Jon Bennison before George Whitby and Harry Robertson, two of the club’s youngsters to sign new deals, both scored to make it 16-0.
Jon Bennison and Whitby both grabbed their second before the break to make it 28-0 at halftime, a scoreline that Saints only added to with star man Sailor the next on the scoresheet.
Fellow signing Lewis Murphy then bagged one for himself as the Red Vee kept knocking on the door but West Hull stuck to their task with the score finishing a very respectable 38-0.
