SAINTS boss Keiron Cunningham found it hard to explain what had gone wrong after witnessing his side’s shocking exit from the Challenge Cup.

Hull FC blasted Saints away, winning 47-18 at Langtree Park to reach the quarter finals.

In the post-match press conference Cunningham said: "I haven't the words to explain what I am feeling at the minute.

"The first half really hurt us. There were two penalties in yardage and they got back to back tries and then the young kid gets wide and we were chasing our tail a little bit.

"We lost the ruck and didn't do the fundamentals around there well, which we have been doing recently. But all credit to them, they played well.

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"It was embarrassing at certain times down the middle and it's difficult to put your finger on it why going forward.

"We trained outstandingly during the week and we have been building some combinations over the last two weeks. But today we were really poor defensively.

"They are the areas we work on so it is very frustrating for us.

"Even when we were down you always think you can do something but we lost the energy battle early in the game and that had a knock on effect.

"We had a foothold at times but our defence was poor, regarding one on one defence. That is a mental thing we have address.”

Saints entertain Salford, another side who were knocked out of the cup this weekend, on Friday.

"We have to try and find something and kick on into the next part of the competition. We have a big game on Friday night now.

"We will see how we scrub up and get out there and try and put right a few wrongs," he said.