SAINTS’ SECOND-HALF COMBACK STUNS TIGERS
A FULLBACK master class from Lachlan Coote was just about enough to trump a Lance Todd Trophy-winning performance from his opposite number Niall Evalds, as St Helens ended their Challenge Cup hoodoo in scorching conditions against Castleford at Wembley to deny Daryl Powell a fairytale farewell honour with his boyhood club.
An intelligently managed final quarter, dictated by the Scotland international in his last season before he swaps one side of the M62 for the other with Hull KR, helped Kristian Woolf’s side tame the Tigers in a pulsating clash served up with the dramatic spectacle and showreel moments such an occasion both dictated and deserved.
In front of the largest British Rugby League crowd for almost two years, there was no shortage of spirit from either side, in an eighty-minute hammer-and-tongs affair that saw Saints smother the composure out of their opponents, bringing home a trophy they have not claimed since the halcyon days of Daniel Anderson in 2008.
For Evalds, the man of the match in defeat, it made for a second successive slice of heartbreak after coming up short with Salford against Leeds last autumn here behind closed doors – and likewise for Powell, it proved one more dashed dream of silverware before he departs for pastures new with Warrington next term.
So too it was a dagger to the hopes of Tigers skipper Michael Shenton, a former Saints man himself, of a possible goodbye high in what may well be his closing campaign at The Jungle; a longtenured servant whose nous has so often proven invaluable in the transition of the club from provincial scramblers to playoff regulars.