SAINTS wrapped up their successful Easter programme with a third win in eight days beating Hull FC 26-12, with the rib cartilage injury sustained by hooker James Roby being the only negative on proceedings.

Without Ben Barba for the first time this season, after the Aussie ace pulled up ill late in the week, Saints showed they are far from a one-man team and dominated pretty much from the off.

They won the rucks, kicked smarter through Theo Fages and Danny Richardson and when they had to, they defended their line well.

After a tight first half, Saints took the lead on nine minutes when second row Zeb Taia had plucked Theo Fages kick from the air and after a juggle got eh ball down.

That was one of a number of fine kicks from the Frenchman, who after a wobbly game on Easter Monday, produced a much steadier display at stand off.

The team, on the whole, adjusted well to Barba’s absence with Jonny Lomax showing some neat touches in attack and remaining solid in defence.

Saints did not have it all their own way, and a couple of penalties and a few dropped balls meant that they did have to do plenty of defending against a Hull side that boasts some strong runners in the backs and an offload game in the middle.

Leading 6-0 at the break, Saints pushed within three minutes of the restart when, from a scrum, Roby, Fages and Lomax put the ball along the line for Mark Percival to nip in.

When Jake Connor was penalised for a tip-tackle Danny Richardson’s conversion put Saints 14-0 ahead and that scoreboard reflected the home side’s ascendancy.

Thankfully the game did not alter its course too much when Hull finally got a toe-hold when Albert Kelly crossed from a pass that was at lead four yards forward.

It went upstairs to check the grounding – but given that they cannot check the forward passes, it was given. Video replays brought disbelief – a decision so wrong it was comical.

Thankfully Saints had the last laugh, and on 68 minutes Taia was rewarded for another strong game when he collected Fages’ pass to saunter over, nonchalantly hugging the deadball line as he sought to narrow the angle for Richardson.

After having one try chalked off for a slight bobble, outstanding powerhouse Luke Thompson wrapped up the scoring for Saints, rendering Chris Green’s score a mere detail.