St Helens cruise to victory over Huddersfield despite early red card

St Helens showed their champion qualities by dismantling top-four challengers Huddersfield while playing most of the match a man short following the dismissal of Sione Mata'utia.

They actually ended the game with 11 men when Morgan Knowles was sin-binned late on but still finished comfortable 25-0 winners to preserve their unbeaten home record in 2022 and strengthen their hold on top spot in Super League.

Mata'utia, who had successfully overturned a one-match ban for a high tackle to keep his place in the team, was given his marching orders by referee Chris Kendall after 16 minutes for lifting Giants hooker Danny Levi as he lay injured on the ground.

Saints coach Kristian Woolf had already been forced into re-shuffling his back division following the loss of full-back Will Hopoate to injury after just three minutes and will be delighted with their response to adversity.

It meant an unhappy return to the Totally Wicked Stadium for former Saints scrum-half Theo Fages as the Giants experienced a sobering defeat to drop to fourth place.

The visitors sorely missed chief playmaker Tui Lolohea, who sat out only his second Super League match of the season with a minor ankle injury, with Will Pryce struggling to fill the void.

St Helens were boosted by the return of England prop Alex Walmsley, who missed their Magic Weekend win over Wigan to be beside his wife as she gave birth to their third child, and Agnatius Paasi was equally effective when he came on as a replacement for the big man.

Centre Konrad Hurrell was also a force on the 200th appearance of his career, while Jack Welsby continued his stellar campaign with another hugely-influential display.

The drama began in the fourth minute when Hopoate was hurt preventing