Sculthorpe's Wembley pain dampens Saints' Challenge Cup glory

Hull FC 16 St Helens 28

Paul Sculthorpe’s prophetic words came back to haunt him in the Carnegie Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.

‘You wonder what is going to happen next,’ said the former Great Britain captain and two time Man of Steel a few weeks ago as he battled to overcome a persistent hamstring problem to end his distinguished St Helens career on a high after 11 years.

His injury jinx had become a never-ending nightmare.

Two knee operations, a ruptured achilles tendon, back and hamstring problems.

Then the black clouds lifted and he took his place in the sunshine against rank outsiders Hull FC on Saturday.

Cruelly, not for long.

After dislocating his shoulder after two minutes of his fifth Cup Final appearance and his first at Wembley, a fourth winner’s medal is no consolation if he has to suffer the unbearable frustration of missing out on the Super League play-offs again; particularly in his last season with the club.

Not surprisingly, the thoughts of Sculthorpe’s St Helens team-mates and his coach Daniel Anderson turned to their stricken colleague in their latest hour of glory.

Keiron Cunningham, another Saints icon who was handed the captaincy when Sculthorpe missed out on last season’s Wembley final against Catalans, said: ‘I genuinely thought this was going to be his day.

‘I was hoping he would get the Lance Todd Trophy and we had talked about him helping me to lift the cup if we won it again.

'I waited for everyone to come up at the end and was looking for Scully but he was in too much pain.

St Helens head coach Daniel Anderson is drenched after Saturday's 28-16 win

‘I was in the tackle with Scully right at the start of the game and saw him hold his shoulder.

'To see him go off so early was so sad. You really feel for the guy.’

Sean Long, Sculthorpe’s long-time team-mate and next-door neighbour, said: ‘It has been one thing after another for him and it is heartbreaking.

‘It was his first cup game of the season but he had trained all week and been running the plays.

'I know he is absolutely gutted.’ 

Coach Anderson, who is returning home to Australia at the end of the year, said: ‘It was a horrible injury and happened so early in the game.

'All we can do is sit with him and try to console him.’

Sculthorpe travelled home with his team-mates on Sunday for an open-top bus ride to celebrate Saints third successive Challenge Cup triumph.

The full extent of his injury will only become clear in the next few days.

Their focus will soon turn to Friday’s night Super League derby against Wigan and their bid to complete the Double by reaching Old Trafford and avenging last year’s Grand Final defeat by Leeds Rhinos.

For the moment they are entitled to enjoy their seventh Challenge Cup triumph in the 13 years of the summer era — a victory that did not come as easily as most pundits had predicted.

St Helens' Leon Pryce celebrates after his side's victory over Hull FC

Long, a three-time winner of the Lance Todd Trophy which on this occasion went to his team-mate Paul Wellens (the joint winner with Leon Pryce last year), said: ‘I thought Hull were superb.

'They just would not die. It was so hot and frantic in the first half that I struggled to get my breath and when we bombed a few chances that could have wrapped things up before the break, I began to think it wasn’t going to be our day.

‘Maybe it did us a favour to go behind 14-12 in the second half because we got it together after that.’

Long’s half back partner Pryce, who finished Hull off with a late try, said: ‘That’s the first try I have ever scored in a Challenge Cup Final and it’s been a dream of mine since I was eight years old.

‘Hull made it really tough for us. It was only in the last 15 minutes that we were in charge of the game.’

Hull coach Richard Agar, who only got the job three months ago, had been hoping to follow in the footsteps of his father Allan, a winner both as a player and a coach in the Eighties.

Francis Meli scores St Helens second try in his side's Challenge Cup triumph at Wembley

‘We gave it everything and we were in with a shout when we got in front,’ said Agar jnr.

‘But we needed to hold on to the lead for more than two minutes.

'That was when Saints showed they are a team who can handle pressure.

'I think all the miles their players had on the clock paid off for them.’

Hull, who have never won at Wembley, gambled on the fitness of local hero and half back Richard Horne when Australian Adam Dykes suffered a reaction to a knee injury in midweek.

Horne, who had not played since April after suffering a career-threatening neck injury, came on after 16 minutes at Wembley and was greeted by a massive hit by Saints prop James Graham.

‘It was a good clean hit and it dazed me for a few seconds,’ said Horne.

‘But it was a good test. I wasn’t scared because the doctors had cleared me to play.

‘I was worn out at the end but glad to get through the game.

'We stayed with Saints for an hour so it was not the whitewash some people had predicted. We just ran out of steam at the end.’

HULL FC: Byrne; Sing, G Horne, Yeaman, Raynor; Washbrook, Lee; Dowes, Berrigan, Cusack, Manu, Tickle, Radford (capt).
Tries: Yeaman 2, Raynor. Goals: Tickle 2.

ST HELENS: Wellens; Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli; Pryce, Long; Hargreaves, Cunningham (capt), Graham, Wilkin, Flannery, Sculthorpe.
Tries: Gidley, Meli 2, Wilkin, Pryce. Goals: Long 4.

Man of the match: Paul Wellens.
Referee: Steve Ganson.
Video Referee: Ashley Klein.
Attendance: 82,821.