St Helens beat Salford in Grand Final for seventh title

St Helens won their first Super League Grand Final since 2014 as they comfortably defeated Salford Red Devils at Old Trafford.

Morgan Knowles got Saints off the mark and Zeb Taia extended their lead before Jake Bibby responded for Salford.

After the break, Mark Percival scored a sensational try from his own short grubber kick right under the posts.

The win was wrapped up thanks to Tommy Makinson’s 40-metre drop-goal on the verge of the full-time hooter.

The win ends a spell of five years without major domestic silverware for St Helens, who were defeated on the way to the Grand Final in the past two Super League play-offs in addition to their defeat by Warrington in August’s Challenge Cup final.

The wait goes on for Salford, meanwhile, who were playing in their first Grand Final and have not won a major honour since their title win of 1976.

St Helens came into the match with a week’s rest having beaten Wigan in the first semi-final on 27 September and their freshness showed as Salford looked wasteful when in possession.

Wales international Knowles touched down for his fifth try of the season, with Taia running in after Ken Sio cheaply knocked on inside his own 10 as Saints turned the screw.

Tui Lolohea looked to have powered in with an immediate response for Salford but his impressive solo run-in was ruled out for an obstruction in the build-up, however a good spell for the Red Devils culminated in Bibby’s try.

Man of Steel winner Jackson Hastings, in his final game for Salford before moving to Wigan next season, was the cornerstone of Salford’s fightback, but Percival’s score inspired Saints to victory.

Percival’s moment of brilliance

If anyone needed a reason for why this Saints side have been said by some to be the greatest team of the Super League era, Percival’s second-half try is it.

With Salford fighting back to end the first half toe-to-toe with St Helens after they had scrambled to defend thanks to Alex Walmsley and Luke Thompson’s fine spells in the early stages, Saints set the tempo for the second period.

Despite Salford valiantly holding their own, moments of sheer brilliance like that of Percival’s score are hard to prevent.

Running across the pitch looking for space, Percival took matters into his own hands and kicked a neat grubber kick at a slight angle past the Salford back line and picked his moment to run through a wall of Salford players to regain the ball and touch down under the posts.

Occasions of individual prowess like that usually come around once in a while but at some points in the Justin Holbrook era, Saints look like they could create moments like that every week.

It was an event that turned the game into their favour and opened up a formidable 12-point lead on their opponents, and they comfortably saw the game out thanks to Lachlan Coote’s boot.

More to follow.

St Helens: Lomax, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace, Fages, Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Taia, Knowles, Peyroux, Coote.

Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Amor, Ashworth, Smith.

Salford Red Devils: Evalds, Welham, Bibby, Mossop, Dudson, Jones, Griffin, McCarthy, Tomkins, Sio, Inu, Lolohea, Hastings.

Interchanges: Lussick, Flanagan, Walker, Burke.

Referee: C. Kendall.

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