St Helens 48-6 Wakefield: Nine-try Saints batter Trinity
Last Updated: 15/10/20 11:57pm
England winger Tom Makinson scored a hat-trick of tries as Betfred Super League champions St Helens cruised to their second win in seven days over Wakefield to strengthen their position at the top of the table.
Makinson, who missed five weeks of the season after being banned for grabbing the groin area of Castleford prop Liam Watts, doubled his try tally for the season by half-time to put his side on their way to a 48-6 victory at Warrington.
Veteran captain James Roby touched down twice to bring up a century of Super League tries, while teenager Lewis Dodd scored the first try of his career on his second appearance.
Six of Saints' nine tries came before half-time as they led 30-0, but Wakefield produced more stubborn resistance in the second half and loan winger Innes Senior stunned the champions with a 90-metre intercept try.
The danger signs for Wakefield were in evidence in the opening minutes when full-back Alex Walker fumbled Theo Fages' towering kick, an error which set the pattern for the rest of the first half.
The opening try was a bizarre one as teenage centre Jack Welsby somehow squeezed out a pass as he was about to be bundled into touch, and Roby was in the right place to collect and touch down for his 99th try.
Fages had a try disallowed for a foul in the build-up but there was no stopping Makinson as he profited from Lachlan Coote's cut-out pass to score his first try of the match on 16 minutes.
Trinity struggled to get out of their own half as Saints maintained their intensity and they were swept aside by a devastating 13-minute spell just before the break when they conceded four more tries.
Roby forced his way over for his second from dummy half, prop Alex Walmsley continued his remarkable scoring run by charging over for his 10th of the season and Makinson went over twice in five minutes to complete his hat-trick.
Makinson's second was the result of a trademark finish as the England man propelled himself towards the corner, touching down one-handed from his acrobatic dive with millimetres to spare.
Wakefield were quickly back on the defensive at the start of the second half, but they managed to find a bit more steel to keep their line intact and the introduction of prop Eddie Battye added some variety to their attack.
Saints coach Kristian Woolf clearly felt comfortable enough to bring Roby off after 55 minutes, but his hopes of keeping a clean sheet were dashed three minutes later when Senior picked off a Jonny Lomax pass and went 90 metres for a glorious interception try.
Ryan Hampshire added the goal, but normal service was resumed on 66 minutes when Welsby released his winger Regan Grace, who finished decisively at the corner.
As Wakefield began to tire, Coote sliced through their defence to get Dodd over for a try despite the attempt by Max Jowitt to turn him on his back, and centre Kevin Naiqama went over for Saints' ninth try a minute from the end, making it 11 wins from 14 this season.
