Lomax stars on 300th appearance as St Helens whitewash Wakefield

St Helens welcomed winless Wakefield to the Totally Wicked Stadium tonight as Paul Wellens’ men looked to build on back-to-back wins.

The game had been touted by many fans as a suggested walkover, plenty suggesting Saints would look past Trinity and onto their upcoming Good Friday derby, however Saints still named a strong side.

Jon Bennison was allowed a rest in the role of 18th man but Morgan Knowles’ return to the pack was a big boost, especially with Sione Mata’utia missing through injury.

As for Trinity they’d revamped their squad with the acquisition of Will Dagger, from Hull KR, and Innes Senior, from Huddersfield Giants.

Both of those backs started whilst young Morgan Smith joined Mason Lino in the halves.

The match started in the worst way for the reigning champions as Alex Walmsley seemingly injured his hamstring and was forced off, Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook being called into action within two minutes for the second consecutive week.

That didn’t dent them too much though as they opened the scoring after just seven minutes through Mark Percival.

Jack Welsby was the creator as he cleverly delayed a pass to allow Percival to cross over.

It was Welsby who first put Saints in real danger though as he knocked on a high kick and allowed Trinity their first real territory of the game in the 23rd minute.

Unfortunately for Mark Applegarth his side spurned their chances, despite having multiple sets, and just 10 minutes later the Red Vee punished them through Will Hopoate.

That score came in the 33rd minute and was compounded by a Makinson try from the scrum just before half-time, the winger being set up by Jonny Lomax who was making his 300th appearance for Saints tonight.

Whilst Trinity were down by three tries the only consolation going into the half was that Tommy Makinson hadn’t brought his kicking boots, failing to convert on any try leaving the scoreline 12-0 at the half.

Mark Percival took over on the kicking duties and his first action of the second half came 15 minutes in when he slotted a penalty over to make the game 14-0.

Just four minutes later though Lewis Dodd was put through by Jack Welsby, who bagged his second assist, and with Percival’s extras the lead stretched to 20-0 and out of Trinity’s reach.

Saints continued their dominance and scored from another scrum set play, this time Konrad Hurrell was the benefactor and once again Mark Percival knocked over the extras to extend the lead to 26-0.

Man of the moment Jonny Lomax then scored a try on his 300th appearance in the Red Vee before Konrad Hurrell scored his second of the night in the 74th.

Percival kicked both to make his record a perfect five from five and the score 38-0 in what was a five star performance for Saints, and a miserable night for Wakefield.

Trinity will head into rivals weekend against Castleford desperate for a win and having not scored in four of those seven games.