CARDIFF DEMONS 0 ST HELENS 54
IAN GOLDEN, Cardiff University Sports Park, Saturday
ST HELENS put in a dominant second-half performance to see off a gallant Cardiff outfit and claim top spot in Group One.
The first half was almost perfectly matched and a neutral might have found it hard to tell that this was a game between the Challenge Cup holders and a Championship side.
The second half, however, was a different story as Saints dominated the Demons in a contest between teams already sure of quarter-final spots.
Cardiff, missing the influential Leanne Burnell through injury, looked more promising early on and started to take advantage of some Saints errors. They had the first real chance to score, but Amberley Ruck’s grubber on the final tackle was picked up well.
It was only because of penalties that Saints were even on the board in the first 30 minutes, both of their tries in that period coming from the resulting sets following infringements.
On 16 minutes, Beri Salihi fed Erin Stott to score with Faye Gaskin converting well, then 13 minutes later, on the final tackle of the set, Georgia Sutherland slipped through with an easy conversion for Gaskin.
Cardiff were lacking the final touch when it came to their attacks with St Helens defending well. The only Welsh international to score in the first half was Dani McGifford, who went over in the corner for Saints’ third try. Gaskin couldn’t convert and Saints were 16-0 up at the break.
It took them 36 seconds of second-half play to increase their lead as Sutherland ran over for her second and Gaskin converted again.
Amy Hardcastle added her side’s next try nine minutes later, with Katie Mottershead and Luci McColm quickly following her over. Gaskin converted the first two and Saints were 38-0 up on the hour.
The Super League side continued to dominate as Cardiff tired. Caitlin Casey and Zoe Harris soon added tries with Gaskin converting both for the half-century.
Cardiff did have a little bit more of the ball in the final ten minutes of the game, but Saints got their tenth and final try on 76 minutes through Phoebe Hook.
DEMONS: 14 Meg Whittaker, 2 Lucia Davies, 3 Kaitlin Hubbert, 16 Olivia Williams, 20 Lora Roberts, 6 Amberley Ruck, 7 Rhi Parker, 8 Sara Jones, 9 Jasmine Gibbons, 10 Ffion Jenkins, 11 Bridget Jones, 12 Charlie Mundy, 26 Sue Neuman. Subs (all used): 22 Amy Price, 23 Hannah Jones, 25 Katie Carr, 24 Shaunni Davies
SAINTS: 1 Beri Salihi, 2 Phoebe Hook, 3 Erin Stott, 4 Amy Hardcastle, 25 Dani McGifford, 6 Zoe Harris, 7 Faye Gaskin, 20 Erin McDonald, 17 Caitlin Casey, 10 Chantelle Crowl, 11 Shona Hoyle, 12 Emily Rudge, 13 Jodie Cunningham. Subs (all used): 9 Katie Mottershead, 15 Georgia Sutherland, 8 Vicky Whitfield, 23 Luci McColm
Tries: E Stott (16), Sutherland (29, 41), McGifford (36), Hardcastle (50), Mottershead (56), McColm (60), Casey (64), Harris (69), Hook (76); Goals: Gaskin 7/10
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-8, 0-12, 0-16; 0-22, 0-28, 0-34, 0-38, 0-44, 0-50, 0-54
Half-time: 0-16