Finals Week 1
St Helens 15 d. Huddersfield Giants 2

2009 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Saints avenge Challenge Cup loss
Sun September 20, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

St Helens avenged their Challenge Cup semi-final defeat and moved to within 80 minutes of a fourth successive Grand Final appearance with a patchy 15-2 engage Super League play-off win over Huddersfield.

Four defeats in their last five matches, including that cup exit at the hands of the Giants, had threatened to wreck Saints' season but they never looked back after scoring three tries in the first 21 minutes.

Their reward is a week off and a home semi-final while Huddersfield, who were without five members of their Wembley line-up, will have another chance to gain a first play-off win with a home tie in next week's preliminary semi-finals.

After their early lapses, the Giants demonstrated why they have the best defence in engage Super League but they met their match tonight and failed to score a try for the first time for 14 months.

Saints were still well below their best but they received the encouragement of a gift try after only two minutes and were 14-2 ahead before the visitors began to get into the game.

There were shades of Huddersfield's disastrous start to the Challenge Cup final when Saints' strong-running prop Tony Puletua intercepted a sloppy pass from Liam Fulton and he proved unstoppable 20 metres out from the line.

The Giants' inspirational skipper Brett Hodgson pulled two points back with a penalty but Saints extended their lead on 13 minutes when stand-off Leon Pryce's trademark jinking run took him all the way to the line.

Huddersfield struggled to make any headway in the game and it was no surprise when Saints went in for a third try, fanning the ball the full width of the pitch for the dangerous Kyle Eastmond to get winger Francis Meli over at the corner.

Eastmond was able to convert just one of the tries but, at 14-2, the home side were in full control.

The Giants ought to have made more of their first meaningful attack when towering prop Eorl Crabtree was put through a gap by the scheming Hodgson but Saints full-back Paul Wellens produced a superb last-ditch tackle to deny the big man what would have been his first try of the season.

Centre Stephen Wild also lost the ball with the line at his mercy as the visitors found their touch to give their supporters something to cheer.

They had their moments in the second half, too, with prop Danny Sculthorpe releasing Fulton into space but the Saints defence held firm.

Saints thought they had scored again when right winger Ade Gardner won the race to Sean Long's kick to the corner but slow-motion replays revealed a knock-on and the only score in the final hour was a 72nd-minute drop goal from Long.

Comprehensive 2008 Super League Regular Season Stats

2009 CLUB LINKS
Leeds | St Helens | Huddersfield | Hull KR | Wakefield | Wigan | Castleford
Catalans | Bradford | Warrington | Harlequins | Hull FC | Salford City | Celtic

ROUND BY ROUND LINKS
Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 | Round 8 | Round 9
Round 10 | Round 11 | Round 12 | Round 13 | Round 14 | Round 15 | Round 16 | Round 17 | Round 18
Round 19 | Round 20 | Round 21 | Round 22 | Round 23 | Round 24 | Round 25 | Round 26 | Round 27

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Preview: St Helens (2) v Huddersfield (3) - Semi Final #2
Sat September 19, 2009
St Helens are boosted by the return of England front rower James Graham after he missed last Friday's defeat by Catalans Dragons with a shoulder injury, and there are hopes that full-back Paul Wellens could be back from a quad injury.

Huddersfield have lost David Faiumu with a hamstring injury and Scott Moore is unable to face his parent club because of an internal suspension.

The Giants are also without ex-Saints prop Keith Mason but have second rower Simon Finnigan back after his wrist injury was discovered to be less serious than first thought.

Preview Source: www.superleague.co.uk

SAINT HELENS (1) v HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS (3)
Date: Saturday 19th September 2009
Venue: Knowsley Road
Kick Off: 6:00pm (UK), 3:00am (AEST)
Referee: Richard Silverwood
St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Meli, Pryce, Long, Cunningham, Graham, Gilmour, Wilkin, Flannery, Roby, Hargreaves, Puletua, Clough, Eastmond, Fa'asavalu, Ashurst, Emmitt.
Huddersfield: B. Hodgson, Aspinwall, Whaturia, D. Hodgson, Fulton, Robinson, Crabtree, D. Griffin, Raleigh, Wild, Finnigan, P. Jackson, Lawrence, Cudjoe, Lunt, J. Griffin, Carlile, Sculthorpe, Larne.
Betting: Super League Finals | St Helens v Huddersfield

SAINT HELENS STATS
Players Used (27): Tom Armstrong, Matty Ashurst, Jason Cayless, Paul Clough, Keiron Cunningham, Chris Dean, Andrew Dixon, Kyle Eastmond, Jamie Ellis, Jacob Emmitt, Maurie Fa'asavalu, Chris Flannery, Gareth Frodsham, Ade Gardner, Matthew Gidley, Lee Gilmour, James Graham, Bryn Hargreaves, Jonny Lomax, Sean Long, Francis Meli, Leon Pryce, Tony Puletua, James Roby, Paul Wellens, Gary Wheeler, Jon Wilkin.

Most Games:
27: Paul Clough
26: Lee Gilmour
25: Leon Pryce

Crowd Information:
Total: Games 26 - 284974 (Average: 10,961)
Home: Games 13 - 149125 (Average: 11,471)
Away: Games 13 - 135849 (Average: 10,450)

Leading Point Scorers:
112: Sean Long (19)
93: Kyle Eastmond (12)
60: Leon Pryce (25)
52: Ade Gardner (23), Tony Puletua (24)

Leading Try Scorers:
15: Leon Pryce (25)
13: Ade Gardner (23), Tony Puletua (24)
11: Paul Wellens (24)
9: Matthew Gidley (24), Francis Meli (20), Jon Wilkin (24)

Leading Goal Scorers:
49: Sean Long (19)
30: Kyle Eastmond (12)
3: Gary Wheeler (10)
2: Matthew Gidley (24)
1: Jamie Ellis (3), Jonny Lomax (7), Paul Wellens (24)

HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS STATS
Players Used (31): Martin Aspinwall, Alex Brown, Kevin Brown, Keal Carlile, Eorl Crabtree, Leroy Cudjoe, David Faiumu, Simon Finnigan, Liam Fulton, Darrell Griffin, Josh Griffin, Tom Hemingway, Brett Hodgson, David Hodgson, Elliott Hodgson, Paul Jackson, Danny Kirmond, Michael Korkidas, Michael Lawrence, Jamahl Lolesi, Shaun Lunt, Keith Mason, Scott Moore, Lee Mossop, Larne Patrick, Andy Raleigh, Luke Robinson, Danny Sculthorpe, Joe Walsh, Paul Whatuira, Stephen Wild.

Most Games:
26: David Hodgson, Luke Robinson
24: Scott Moore, Stephen Wild
23: Keith Mason

Crowd Information:
Total: Games 26 - 204989 (Average: 7,884)
Home: Games 13 - 102798 (Average: 7,908)
Away: Games 13 - 102191 (Average: 7,861)

Leading Point Scorers:
216: Brett Hodgson (22)
98: Leroy Cudjoe (20)
72: David Hodgson (26)
44: Shaun Lunt (16)
36: Michael Lawrence (20)

Leading Try Scorers:
18: David Hodgson (26)
15: Leroy Cudjoe (20)
11: Brett Hodgson (22), Shaun Lunt (16)
9: Michael Lawrence (20), Scott Moore (24)

Leading Goal Scorers:
86: Brett Hodgson (22)
19: Leroy Cudjoe (20)

Comprehensive 2008 Super League Regular Season Stats

Betting: Super League Finals | St Helens v Huddersfield

2009 CLUB LINKS
Leeds | St Helens | Huddersfield | Hull KR | Wakefield | Wigan | Castleford
Catalans | Bradford | Warrington | Harlequins | Hull FC | Salford City | Celtic

ROUND BY ROUND LINKS
Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 | Round 8 | Round 9
Round 10 | Round 11 | Round 12 | Round 13 | Round 14 | Round 15 | Round 16 | Round 17 | Round 18
Round 19 | Round 20 | Round 21 | Round 22 | Round 23 | Round 24 | Round 25 | Round 26 | Round 27

SEASON LINKS
Article | Main | Table | Draw | Stats | Forum | Betting

Tue September 15, 2009
• Your guide to the new engage Super League playoffs
  

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