Albert does the trick to lift sorry Saints

St Helens 38 - 6 Halifax

An M62 traffic jam removed any chance of Halifax exploiting St Helens' depression following last Saturday's Challenge Cup final defeat by Wigan last night.

The Blue Sox were stuck on their coach for more than three hours and arrived less than half an hour before the delayed kick-off, and Saints capitalised enthusiastically with Darren Albert to the fore. The speedy Australian, playing in the unfamiliar position of full-back, scored his second hat-trick in four games.

This has been a difficult week for St Helens: they have been summoned to a Rugby Football League tribunal and lost their Great Britain scrum-half Sean Long to injury in the aftermath of last Saturday's defeat at Murrayfield. But if they think they have problems, they should try swapping with Halifax. The Blue Sox were this week hit with a second winding-up order in the last 12 months from the Inland Revenue for £200,000 in unpaid tax, so the last thing they needed was to run into those traffic problems.

Surprisingly, they actually started the game the better, taking a 2-0 lead with a third-minute Gavin Clinch penalty and enjoying plenty of possession in the St Helens half. But the Saints' defence was on its mettle and they counter-attacked with their usual flair, scoring three tries to establish a 16-2 half-time lead.

The first was made in Australia, as super passes from the overseas forwards Darren Britt and Peter Shiels sent Albert dancing between the posts. Saints had to wait until the 33rd minute for the second try, and it was nothing spectacular when it came, but was no less popular as the veteran prop Sonny Nickle surged over for a rare score.

Within three minutes Albert, playing at full-back as part of the reshuffle caused by Long's injury, pinched the ball from Jason Flowers, who had switched to full-back for Halifax when Daryl Cardiss was stretchered off with an injury, and a long pass from Keiron Cunningham allowed Tony Stewart to cross on the left.

Albert's second try within three minutes of the restart removed any doubts about the outcome and within 10 minutes he had his hat-trick, with Paul Sculthorpe having a further score after Tommy Martyn's 40-2 kick. Sculthorpe crossed for a second close-range try and converted it himself to complete a personal tally of 18 points, but Halifax at least managed to score a try before the end as Andrew Dunemann sent Andy Hobson over.

St Helens: Albert; Kirkpatrick, West, Gleeson, Stewart; Sculthorpe, Wellens; Britt, Cunningham, Nickle, Joynt, Stankevitch, Shiels. Substitutes: Martyn, Edmondson, Bennett, Whittle.

Halifax Blue Sox: Cardiss; Marns, Donlan, Flowers, Halpenny; Dunemann, Clinch; Goldspink, Lawless, Gannon, Brocklehurst, Thackray, McMenemy. Substitutes: Woods, Hobson, Clayton, Birchall.

Referee: I Smith (Oldham).

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