Saints look to advance to Wembley with a win against Hull FC

St Helens will be looking to make it to Wembley and attempting to win their first Challenge Cup since 2008 when they take on Hull FC at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday.

The Challenge Cup has eluded Saints for 13 years, having won back to back Super League titles they will be wanting to win Rugby League’s oldest trophy for the 12th time, but in their way is a Hull FC side who have tasted recent success in the competition. FC last won the competition in 2016 and 2017 defeating Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors respectively.

The two sides met last week with Saints coming away 34-16 winners with youngster Jack Welsby picking up a hat-trick- the first in his career.

Head coach Kristian Woolf knows his Saints side can’t be lenient against an FC team that are looking to reach their potential this season. 

“We’re expecting a really tough game and it’s a different game,”

“We’re really happy with what we did on the weekend, but there’s a lot more on the line this week, and Hull will want to throw themselves into this competition.

“There will be a different intent from Hull. The last time they lost to Wigan in a league game and then challenged them in the cup and came away with a win.”

Brett Hodgson joined Hull as head coach during the offseason and has got to work improving his side’s defence, something they have struggled with over the last two seasons. Being able to work on their kicking game is something that Hodgson wants to see improve on Saturday.

“We have to trust in our system and believe that we can win,” Hodgson told BBC Radio Humberside.

“We’ll go there with a plan on how we feel we can do to maximise what we do with the ball.

“We need to complete better and to kick better, and ultimately defensively still apply ourselves as we have done for a number of weeks at Super League level.”

When it comes to team news, Tommy Makinson and Regan Grace return to the squad for Saints which sees England International Mark Percival drop out. Whilst the Black and Whites will be without Joe Cator who picked up a calf injury in the latter stages of the match between the two sides last week. 

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt