Tristan Sailor scored 14 points as St Helens dominated Catalans Dragons in a one-sided Challenge Cup quarter-final.
The Australian full-back, who also racked up 14 points in the stunning Good Friday comeback win over derby rivals Wigan Warriors last week, went over for a first-half try and kicked five goals as the ragged French side failed to test Paul Rowley’s resurgent Saints.
But St Helens suffered more injury woe as Jake Wingfield and Lewis Murphy, who scored the first try after Sailor had notched an early penalty, were forced off in the opening 32 minutes, but that could not interrupt the flow.
Sailor went over and 19-year-old Jake Davies scored his first senior try before second-half scores from Owen Dagnall and George Whitby emphasised the gulf between the sides.
Rowley has had to cope with a horrendous injury list this season and his bad luck showed no sign of abating. Saints welcomed back Alex Walmsley, George Delaney and Whitby but lost Wingfield and Murphy in the first half at the BrewDog Stadium.
It made no difference to the one-sided flow of this game, as Sailor’s fifth-minute penalty and Murphy’s sharp finish in the corner had Saints in control before the French side, fresh from a derby win of their own against Toulouse, knew what had hit them.
Sailor raced onto Daryl Clark’s shinned kick to score another as the Dragons failed to cope with the pace and intensity of the home side, who have now won seven of their past eight games in all competitions.
Clark’s speed at the ruck was creating havoc for a disorganised Catalans side, while Walmsley celebrated his return, and his 36th birthday, by repeatedly punching holes in the opposition defence.
Sailor added another penalty and after Walmsley had powered straight through the Dragons line Davies was on hand to score his milestone try and make it 20-0 at half time.
Catalans needed a strong start after the break but instead they continued to infringe and saw Julian Bousquet sin-binned for tackling Harry Robertson without the ball.
Successive penalties deep in Dragons territory ended with Sailor’s deft pass out of the tackle for Dagnall to step his way over the line, and then Whitby latched onto Jackson Hastings’ kick for another.
A rare Sailor mistake, a knock-on in front of his own posts, led to Faataape’s consolation try, but Whitby made it a memorable night for himself by sliding in to get his fingers on top of the ball after Hastings’ high kick had bounced awkwardly and evaded the grasp of Nick Cotric.