Hull FC v St Helens: Tony Smith urges players to show personal pride to avoid rematch repeat

Saints have the upper hand after overcoming a spirited Hull to book a place in next month's semi-finals.

The Black and Whites paid the price for Josh Griffin's half-time red card for questioning the integrity of referee Chris Kendall, a rush of blood that will ultimately cost the club to the tune of seven and a half games.

Tony Smith's men have had little time to feel sorry for themselves ahead of another date with the four-time defending Super League champions on home soil.

Smith is hoping Hull took the 32-18 Challenge Cup defeat personally as they set about keeping their season alive.

"It gives us both recent knowledge of each other but nothing we can do on Thursday will change Saturday's result," said Smith, whose side are six points off the pace in the race for the play-offs.

"But can the fact they beat us on our own patch spur us on? I hope so.

"We don't want to get beaten twice by St Helens. That's personal pride and we've got to have that about ourselves.

"It hurts when you get beat and you've got to get your motivation however you need to get your motivation.

"It has the makings of another good game. We'll look forward to the challenge, a big challenge again."

Fresh from swatting aside Huddersfield Giants and Wigan Warriors, Saints arrived in west Hull in ominous form last weekend but found themselves on the back foot until Griffin's dismissal.

While Smith took positives from the way his team took the fight to St Helens, he has stressed the need to go the distance with the world club champions.

"St Helens, as we saw the other day, are a terrific team," he said. "If you show them a little bit, they'll take it and make you pay the price.

"I'm hoping we can go out there and compete like we did for the majority of that game.

"At times I thought we got on top. We troubled them at times. Doing that consistently for 80 minutes is always the challenge against St Helens.

"They're still the team that everybody needs to catch, in terms of doing it consistently for 80 minutes.

"We weren't able to sustain it right through to the end but if the effort is there again, I'll be proud of the boys."

Smith's side have improved markedly since a wretched seven-game losing run at the start of the new era under Super League's most experienced coach.

The 56-year-old views Saints as an example of how long it takes to build a winning culture.

"Saints will hurt you," he added. "They've got some world-class players and some great workers.

"They've got a spirit within their club that helps them. They haven't developed that over one or two seasons; that's been a long time in the making and eventually it becomes successful for them.

"We'd all like to have that spirit, confidence and the ability to turn it on for it to be consistent for 80 minutes – and have it very quickly. But ask them how long it took them to develop that as a club and you'll get a realistic answer."

Hull's bid to match Saints' famed intensity for the duration of tonight's game has not been helped by a short turnaround.

Acknowledging St Helens are in the same boat, Smith has taken aim at the schedulers after the fixture was brought forward for Sky Sports coverage last month.

"I think a smart competition would have put any of the teams that weren't coming off a Challenge Cup game on the Thursday night and left the teams that were coming off Challenge Cup games till later in the weekend," he said.

"It's the same for both teams but if you're looking for high-quality competition and great rugby league, you take those things into consideration.

"How do we get the best games out of the players? You don't put the short turnarounds on and you put on the right match-ups."

In an attempt to mitigate the five-day turnaround, Smith will freshen up his side, including the welcome return of Jake Clifford after he missed out last week due to a concussion.

The Hull boss has been forced into at least four changes with injured trio Tex Hoy, Liam Sutcliffe and Scott Taylor joining the suspended Griffin on the sidelines.

"Having some new bodies in there will give us some legs and having Jake Clifford back will help us," said Smith.

"We've got some fresh bodies that haven't had a run-out for a while and are eager to prove a point.

"I'm pleased to have Joey (Lovodua), Cam (Scott), Ben (McNamara) and Jack (Brown). They've been chomping at the bit, looking at me every week going 'When are you going to pick me, coach?'

"It gives them a chance to go out and show what they can do."