St Helens faced Betfred Championship side Whitehaven Saturday in the Challenge Cup.

Makinson was on top kicking form and Dodd was passing like his life depended on it as Saints cruised to victory. Dixon did get over for Whitehaven but St Helens were far too strong.

Bouncing back from a loss to Toulouse last week, St Helens could not afford another upset. However, that said Whitehaven started extremely well, despite sustaining two early injuries they managed to keep Saints at bay for the first 20 minutes. When Batchelor crashed over after a great pass splitting the defence from Dodd. Makinson added the extras.

An offside in the 30th from Whitehaven gave Saints perfect attacking territory, and a chance to double their lead. Dodd received the ball, played an excellent ball towards Sironen who got over for his first try for St Helens, Makinson made no mistake once again.

Amor was subbed on, to his delight, against his former club. The interchange seemed to be a fruitful one as just minutes later Amor crashed over. He celebrated wildly and seemed to really enjoy that one! Makinson making it 3/3 before halftime.

👏 A fantastic occasion this afternoon at @OfficialHavenRL…

🏆 @Betfred #ChallengeCup pic.twitter.com/zw2IltoJnZ

— Betfred Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) March 26, 2022

Whitehaven started the second half well. Opening the scoring after 8 minutes, but missing the conversion which hurt them in the long run as the super saints then ran wild.

Two converted tries in two minutes from Norman and Dodd put a real damper on Whitehaven’s performance, to say St Helens are the holders, and the champions they really weren’t all that impressive until the 52nd minute where the onslaught began.

A fumble from Haven in the corner allowed Percival to touch down, Makinson making his first error of the game, and with 15 minutes to go the score sat at 4-34.

Saints just running through the motions now, a nice break from dummy half Lussick powered over, extending the lead after the conversion to 4-40 with 8 minutes to go.

One of the best tries you will see all season followed right at the death. An audacious kick from Lomax towards Dodd, who played the ball back inside to Roby, going over on his 499th game for St Helens. What a milestone that will be if he plays next week. Makinson adding the extras.

Went to shoot @OfficialHavenRl vs @Saints1890 in @TheChallengeCup today for no other reason than to see how @KarlDixon06 would get on against a @SuperLeague team. Game recognizes game. pic.twitter.com/v6MyDv1XaD

— Charles A Robertson (@CharlesTheTog) March 26, 2022

Full time

Whitehaven RLFC 4
St Helens 46

St Helens: Welsby, Grace, Hurrell, Percival, Makinson, Lomax, Dodd, Pa’asi, Lussick, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Batchelor, Sironen, Wingfield.

Interchanges: Roby, Amor, Norman, Royle.
Tries: Batchelor, Sironen, Amor, Norman, Dodd, Percival, Lussick, Roby
Goals: Makinson (7/8)

Whitehaven RLFC: Doyle, Eccleston, Evans, Holliday, Bulman, Dixon, Williams, McAvoy, Bishop, Graham, King, Cooper, Wilkinson.

Interchanges: Phillips, Walker, Aiye, Bradley.
Tries: Dixon
Goals: