Exhausted Saints secure final place

St Helens coach Daniel Anderson admitted his players were out on their feet by the end of their thrilling 12-8 victory over Hull which took them through to their fourth Super League Grand Final.

The treble-chasing Saints were forced to dig deep to overcome a gallant Hull side in front of a 14,000 crowd at Knowsley Road and book their place at Old Trafford on October 14. The Challenge Cup winners opened the scoring with a converted try from right winger Ade Gardner but the scores were locked at 8-8 until left winger Francis Meli scored the match-winning try on the hour.

"There were a lot of nervous moments," said Anderson. "It was a tough game to be in. We wanted to play more football when we were four points ahead but we just didn't have the energy. Fortunately, we won the battle."

Hull are the only visiting team to win at Knowsley Road this season and, although they have now suffered three successive defeats, coach Peter Sharp insists they will draw encouragement from their latest setback.

"It was a great effort, a tremendous effort, but we came up a little bit short," he said. "It was a tough game of rugby, very hard and very skilful. We have to take something from it. We'll re-group and be ready for next week.

"I thought we didn't get the rub of the green all night. There were some dubious decisions to say the least."