Saints' rout is soured as Flannery and Cayless are crocked

Two of their big pack men, Australian second row Chris Flannery and Kiwi prop Jason Cayless, will miss next month's semi-final against Leeds after suffering knee ligament injuries.

Halted: Gardner grabs Webster

Saints coach Daniel Anderson said: 'They are both pretty serious and that has taken the gloss off a scintillating performance. 'Flannery has definitely got medial ligament damage and we are just hoping Cayless has not done his cruciate.'

Flannery limped off after 13 minutes and Cayless, who missed the first eight games of the season after a micro-fracture of the same knee, went on a stretcher nine minutes later after falling awkwardly when Clint Newton caught him with a high tackle.

Paul Sculthorpe gave Cayless a pat on the head as he lay on the stretcher, doubtless grateful it wasn't him for once. He was making only his fifth appearance of the season after a horrific run of injuries, and he lasted almost the full 80 minutes and had an 'assist' in three of his team's nine tries.

Saints had the game won by half-time, leading 30-0, and winger Ade Gardner completed his first hat-trick of the season.

Rovers coach Justin Morgan said: 'We were given a lesson by Saints in how to back up one good performance with another one. I wasn't happy with our discipline either.' Newton was put 'on report' for the Cayless incident.

LEEDS 38pts HULL 22pts

Champions Leeds were heading for a shock when lowly Hull raced into an 18-0 lead with three tries created by the tactical kicking of Adam Dykes.

They then defended heroically although centre Keith Senior gave the Super League leaders hope with a try eight minutes before the break.

But Leeds rallied to score seven second-half tries and held off a spirited Hull side who had edged back in front after 59 minutes.

A conversion from Kevin Sinfield took him to 1,885 career points and into second place in Leeds' all-time list.