VETERAN packman Zeb Taia celebrated his new deal at the Saints by producing the sort of second row display the club’s former Captain Fantastic Chris Joynt would have been proud.
Taia scored one and had a hand in a couple of others as Saints marched on into the Challenge Cup semis with a comprehensive 48-10 triumph with eight tries from as many scorers.
A look down the teamsheet revealed that the hosts held the aces, with Wakefield missing a clutch of big names, while Saints welcomed back a trio of long-term casualties in Mark Percival, Luke Thompson and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook.
And when the men in the red vee scored after just three minutes, courtesy of a shimmy, dummy and go from another on-song player Jonny Lomax, backed up by Lachlan Coote, it looked possible that Saints would blow Trinity away.
However, it turned into something contest once Trinity debutant Jack Croft brushed off a Kevin Naiqama’s tackle – and the Fiji World Cup skipper appeared to spend the rest of the game trying too hard to atone for his error.
That said, he did finally get the last word on that when he powered down the right flank to wrap up the scoring.
In between that Saints were always in control of the game, but had times had to battle and edge their way up in penalty goals before finally finishing with a flourish.
It was frustrating at times, with play delayed three times for injuries in back play when Saints were on the attack.
But Saints always found that extra bit of quality, and Tommy Makinson put on another show for the BBC cameras with an acrobatic finish.
And speaking of quality, Morgan Knowles produced another top drawer display from the Wayne Pearce school of loose forward play – and he was rewarded for always being willing to push up and chase by scoring a try on the wing after a break from Naiqama.
There was a drop off in intensity for 10 minutes after the break but Taia’s try on the hour mark, followed by tries from Percival, Lomax and Naiqama to gave it that final gloss.
Saints: Coote; Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace; Lomax, Richardson; Walmsley, Roby, Thompson, Peyroux, Taia, Knowles. Subs: Paulo, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Lees, Ashworth.
Wakefield: Hampshire; Kershaw, Lyne, Croft, Jones-Bishop; Miller, Brough; England, Randall, Kopczak, Kirmond, Ashurst, Tanginoa. Subs: Crowther, Hirst, King, Wood.
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