Paul Wellens’ post match reaction to Saints win over Hull FC

Saints won 32-18 through tries from Joe Batchelor, Konrad Hurrell, Curtis Sironen, Lewis Dodd, Jack Welsby and James Bell.

He was also relieved with the way that they responded to Hull FC going down to 12 men following the red card handed to Josh Griffin at half time.

Reacting to Hull FC Josh Griffin red card.

Wellens admitted that Griffin’s red card for dissent left him a little anxious.

“If I’m honest, it made me a little bit more anxious because I’ve seen it recently now in in Super League where going down to 12 men really galvanises the team,” Wellens said.

“I thought it did that with Hull FC – I thought they were tremendous in terms of the way they kept competing when they went down to 12 men.

“There’s a tendency to think when the team goes down to 12 men, that you are just going to blow them off the park but it never works out like that.

“So it was important that we were patient with the ball, important that we got through our sets as if we were playing against 13.

“And I thought when we did that, we looked really effectively and scored tries through the middle rather than beating them out on an edge so it’s probably something that we have got to keep in mind moving forward, but I’m just pleased to get through to the next round.”

Jack Welsby’s perfect response to error

Jack Welsby again made an impact – grabbing a try not long after he had contributed to the mix up fielding a high ball the led to a Hull try. 

Wellens was pleased with the way the 22-year-old recovered from that and was able to post an immediate response.

“Every player at times is going to make mistakes and what we don’t do here at St Helens is beat people with a stick for making errors.

“We prefer not to make them, but the most important thing is how players respond in those situations.

“And Jack’s a shining example because he just gets on with his job and doesn’t let it affect him.

“He’s too good of a player to let it affect him and he shows what kind of an impact he can have on the game when he just commits to being himself.

“You saw that in the last couple of weeks in Super League and you saw that again today,” Wellens said.

Saints reach Betfred Challenge Cup semi-final

Saints join Hull KR in the semis, with the winners of York v Leigh, Wigan v Warrington joining them in tomorrow afternoon’s draw. 

Wellens said: “I am delighted to get to the semi final. It is a target this year to win the Challenge Cup and booking a place in the semis is obviously very pleasing.

“Whoever we play in the in the next round will be another really tough challenge, but one that excites the group and one that we’re really looking forward to.

“It is particularly pleasing to win it in a different way. What we’ve had in the last couple of victories is has been born from the fruits of our labour and the amount of work that we put into our games has shown on the scoreboard.

“It was a little bit different for us today in terms of we had to really grind out the result.

“And it’s probably a lesson for us as a team to actually be that team that’s comfortable in tight games and being comfortable in tight situations because we’ve shown in recent seasons that we can come through those situations.

“So it’s probably a learn for us.”