They left it late, very late, but there was no denying the superiority of St Helens as the most successful rugby league club of the modern era as they claimed the Carnegie Challenge Cup for a third successive year.

But it was not the one-sided affair many had feared. Hull, who lost creative spark Adam Dykes with a knee injury before kick-off, provided a bigger test than Catalans Dragons or Huddersfield Giants had managed in the previous two years.

Forty minutes of dogged resistance by the Yorkshire club kept St Helens in their sights at the halfway stage before they had the temerity to take the lead with two tries by centre Kirk Yeaman, both of which were converted by Danny Tickle.

However, Saints grabbed three more tries of their own in the closing 15 minutes to give their coach, Daniel Anderson, the first part of what could be the perfect send-off. He is returning to Australia at the end of the season, by which time Saints hope to have added the Super League title to the Challenge Cup.

Anderson said his overriding emotion yesterday was relief. “We found a way to win, but almost found a way to lose as well,” he said. “We kept squandering genuine try- scoring plays and I had a bad feeling that it would come and bite us on the backside, but this is a genuine group of players and we were honest for the full 80 minutes.”

St Helens threatened to run Hull ragged during a breathless first half when they created a multitude of chances with enterprising attacking play against opponents who appeared to be struck by stagefright. A succession of handling errors in both halves of the field gifted St Helens possession and position.

However, for all their dominance St Helens were restricted to two tries before the break, which did scant justice to their superiority but spoke volumes for Hull’s resolve in defence.

Saints, who lost Paul Sculthorpe with a suspected dislocated shoulder in the second minute, opened the scoring six minutes later with a simple try. Matt Gidley breezed through on the right following a fumble deep inside his own half by Todd Byrne. The Australian full-back had an eventful half and went close to scoring a try when he threw himself at a low kick by Shaun Berrigan but could not regather as he crashed over the line. St Helens then caught their rivals unawares with a quick restart by Keiron Cunningham, who slipped the ball to James Graham for the prop to send Francis Meli away. Meli found open space, and although Matt Sing lunged at his ankles, he could not stop the wing reaching the line for a try that Sean Long converted.

St Helens also had two tries disallowed in the opening half, the first for a forward pass to Willie Talau from Maurie Fa’asavalu, the second for a double movement by Meli in a tackle by Byrne. That profligacy appeared costly when Yeaman intercepted a pass by Cunningham and raced 80m to score a converted try.

Saints hit straight back, only for Long to have his try denied for an obstruction in the build-up by Chris Flannery, a let-off which gave Hull a timely injection of belief that the team in front of them was beatable. That view was strengthened on the hour when Danny Washbrook kicked deep to the left corner to force an error by Paul Wellens, a rare slip by a player whose performance made him a worthy recipient of the Lance Todd Trophy as man of the match. From the resultant scrum Hull moved the ball left for Richard Horne, playing his first match since a neck injury in April, to combine smartly with Willie Manu to create the space for Yeaman to score.

Hull snatched a third try with five minutes left, but Gareth Raynor’s score in the left corner could not deny St Helens, who had imposed themselves with two more tries, a second for Meli and one from Jon Wilkin, who charged down a clearance kick by Washbrook, scooped up the loose ball and scooted away to the posts. Leon Pryce burst through a weary defence to score his side’s fifth try in the closing stages for Long’s fourth goal to complete St Helens’ 21st successive victory.

St Helens: P Wellens; A Gardner, M Gidley, W Talau, F Meli; L Pryce, S Long; B Hargreaves, K Cunningham (capt), J Graham, J Wilkin, C Flannery, P Sculthorpe. Replacements: L Gilmour, J Roby, P Clough, M Fa’asavalu

Hull: T Byrne; M Sing, G Horne, K Yeaman, G Raynor; D Washbrook, T Lee; E Dowes, S Berrigan, P Cusack, W Manu, D Tickle, L Radford (capt). Replacements: R Horne, G Carvell, T Briscoe, J Thackray

Scorers: St Helens: Tries Meli 18, 66, Gidley 8, Wilkin 71, Pryce 76; Cons Long 4. Hull: Tries Yeaman 43, 62, Raynor 75; Cons Tickle 2

Star man: Paul Wellens (St Helens)
Referee: S Ganson
Attendance: 82,821