Grace stars on comeback as Saints beat Toulouse

Regan Grace scored a 40-metre try in his comeback game as St Helens gained revenge for last month's shock defeat in Toulouse with a 28-14 win against the Super League strugglers to go four points clear at the top.

The Saints winger, out of action since late March with a hamstring injury, was one of five scorers for Kristian Woolf's side, whose power and pace ultimately proved too strong for Toulouse.

An all-French group of officials stepped in at the last minute to ensure the game went ahead after scheduled referee Liam Moore and his fellow RFL officials were stranded in Munich following delays at Manchester Airport.

Saints made a slow start, losing the ball twice in their opening two sets and then conceding a penalty for offside, Chris Hankinson converting from 40 metres out to put Toulouse ahead in the sixth minute.

But the visitors hit back almost immediately when Jack Welsby cut through midfield to release Morgan Knowles for a 30-metre dash to the line, shrugging off full-back Olly Ashall-Bott.

Winger Tommy Makinson was next over the line on the right after Saints stretched the Toulouse defence, but he was unable convert his own try from the touchline.

A clash of heads between Toulouse prop-forwards Daniel Alvaro and Harrison Hansen held up the game, with both players bleeding heavily as they left the field, while Saints' Sione Mata'utia also had to go off for a head injury assessment.

Konrad Hurrell's 40-metre run seven minutes from half-time stretched the champions' lead to 14-2, with Makinson adding a simple conversion.

Toulouse forward Hansen, who returned with his head injury patched up, strode over for an early second-half try with Hankinson adding the conversion to reduce the margin to six.

Saints went close