Cunningham catches Wigan cold

St Helens 24 Wigan 8

St Helens qualified for another stab at Bradford in the Super League grand final next Saturday catching Wigan cold early on and never truly letting them back into this final eliminator at Knowsley Road last night.

There were no last-minute slights of hand from Saints' coach Ian Millward this week, but the use of Sean Long from the start immediately giving the home side a more threatening look than they had when they kicked off against Bradford.

There was perhaps no coincidence that Saints made a flying start, helped by the Wigan prop, Craig Smith, who became the first of many players to lose the ball in the tackle in the slippery conditions.

Saints stretched the Wigan defence to the right and then hurled the ball across field for Tony Stewart to score on the opposite flank.

Paul Sculthorpe missed the conversion but added a penalty conceded by Julian O'Neill for dissent. An error of a different sort cost Wigan their next points, Adrian Lam kicking straight into touch to turn over precious possession once more. Long darted from dummy-half and Chris Joynt was there on his shoulder for the second St Helen's try.

There was nearly a third when Saints pushed the visitors back through sheer weight of numbers and it was 23 minutes before Wigan mounted a serious attack, Darren Britt holding down Lam to give Andy Farrell an easy penalty. Smith and Long went to the sin-bin after a scuffle triggered by Smith leading with his elbow. While they were still off, Wigan reduced the deficit through their workhorse second-rower Mick Cassidy who spun out of one tackle and drove his way over the line for an urgently needed try, converted by Farrell.

The score line was now no reflection of Saints' dominance but they restored some sense of reality before half time when Keiron Cunningham surged over and Long – taking over kicking duties from Sculthorpe – made it a 10-point lead that was the least they deserved.

Saints had to soak up all Wigan's pressure after the break, but they did so successfully. Having absorbed everything their oldest rivals could throw at them, they made the game safe just before the hour when Long chipped over the defence for Sculthorpe to score.

Most of a capacity crowd at a wet Knowsley Road, with another thousand locked out, had got what they came to see, with only a nasty looking injury to Paul Newlove to take the gloss off the occasion.

St Helens: Wellens; Albert, Gleeson, Newlove, Stewart, P Sculthorpe, Long, Britt, Cunningham, Ward, Bennett, Jonkers, Joynt. Substitutes: Higham, Shiels, Stankevitch, Hoppe.

Wigan: Radlinski; Briscoe, Aspinwall, Connolly, Carney, O'Neill, Lam, O'Connor, Newton, Smith, Cassidy, Furner, Farrell. Subs: D Sculthorpe, Tickle, Howard, O'Loughlin.

Referee: R Smith (Castleford).