A shock to the system

Saints 18

LACKLUSTRE Saints slumped to their heaviest defeat of the season in a game that was over as a contest before the latecomers had even settled into their seats at the plush new KC Stadium.

Hull, with Jason Smith and Paul Cooke prominent, cleverly spotted frailties in Saints' defensive formation early on and were rewarded for their inventiveness with four tries in 11 minutes.

After winning nine games on the trot, this defeat came as a shock to the system to the 1,800 travelling fans who had made the long trek to Humberside.

Hull, after only one victory in seven matches, needed to win to avoid sliding out of play-off contention. They looked as though they wanted it more than the side with the winning habit.

It possibly ranked as one of Saints' poorest displays of the season - on a par with the last Bank Holiday mauling there in May.

Only a few of the visiting players emerged with any credit. John Stankevitch worked tirelessly in the middle, Tim Jonkers tried hard and new boy Willie Talau showed some nice touches despite only arriving at the club late last week.

What was alarming was the way Saints' defence, which has been the key to their winning roll over the past two months, fell apart. Hull were creating overlaps and finding gaps without even breaking a tackle on occasions.

The writing was on the wall after two minutes when Paul Cooke's deep kick from the scrum caught the visitors napping.

With the Saints defence scrambling, Smith sent loose forward Chris Chester through to open the scoring.

Three minutes later, Hull were back again with former Kiwi test skipper Richie Barnett carving a hole down the left before sending Gareth Raynor racing over in the corner.

Barnett then crossed for the first of his brace after some simple passing from Chester and Richard Fletcher had opened up a gaping hole in Saints' ranks.

And as shell-shocked Saints struggled to get into the game, Jason Hooper watched in horror as his inside pass was snapped up by poacher Barnett from 35 metres out. Cooke's goal made the score 22-0 to Hull with only 11 minutes on the clock.

The first time Saints touched the ball in the opposition's half they scored. Sean Long combined well with Hooper to send Mick Higham scooting over by the posts.

The try kick-started Saints' best spell of the game but they failed to get the rub of the green on two key decisions.

Firstly Long made a cracking break into Hull's half but the supporting Paul Newlove was clearly dragged back when he looked set to take the scoring pass.

To add insult to injury, Hull then launched a 40/20 kick which appeared to bounce just inside the 20-metre line.

Saints' heads dropped and Cooke duly capitalised by weaving through a huge gap to score by the posts.

Winger Colin Best then collected a perfectly weighted kick to touch down in the corner to give the homesters a 32-6 interval lead.

The second half was always going to be about pride and damage limitation and at least Saints were able to cross for two tries. Newlove used his nous to create space for Tony Stewart to squeeze in at the corner within eight minutes of the restart.

But Hull hit back on 57 minutes when Smith's diagonal dab was touched down by Peter Lupton.

A try from each side by Keiron Cunningham and Raynor concluded the scoring.

Saints: Paul Wellens; Tony Stewart, Paul Newlove, Darren Smith, Ade Gardner; Sean Long, Mick Higham; Keith Mason, Keiron Cunningham, Barry Ward, John Stankevitch, Mike Bennett, Jason Hooper. Subs: Tim Jonkers, Jon Wilkin, Stuart Jones, Willie Talau.

Attendance: 11,212