Wigan Warriors v Hull FC: '˜Home' is where the fresh start is working well for Scott Taylor

As much as Kiwis Frank Pritchard, Sika Manu and Mahe Fonua have all excelled, Scott Taylor – who finally arrived at his boyhood heroes via a circuitous route taking in Hull KR, Wigan Warriors and Salford Red Devils – has been superb.

The rangy prop has been a consistent force in the side that has surprised Super League so far and his two-try display in Sunday’s televised Ladbrokes Challenge Cup success at St Helens certainly highlighted all of his qualities.

“We’ve been building up to a performance like that,” Taylor told The Yorkshire Post, about the impressive 47-18 destruction that leaves them in confident mood ahead of tonight’s league trip to Wigan.

“We’ve been getting a lot of wins but never really played for 80 minutes.

“Sunday came together really well in that sense; the sun came out and we played a lot of rugby, threw the ball around and a lot came off.

“We got what we deserved. We did the hard stuff and not many sides will go to Saints and score 47 points.”

He had only scored once in his 13 other Hull games and Taylor added: “My job isn’t to score tries but it’s always nice to do so and to get a double in the Challenge Cup was great.

“I’d not scored twice for some time, but I’m pretty happy with my form generally.

“There’s been a lot of improvement but at the end of the day I want to play the best rugby I can for Hull FC; this is the club I always wanted to be at.

“I give 110 per cent wherever I am, but I wanted to be here and, hopefully, I can carry this on for the rest of the season.

“Arguably it could be my best form yet. I’d probably say it is.

“I can do what I want here, though, and with such quality players and coaches around me, it’s bringing the best out of me.

“I’ve a bit of a free rein so am allowed to chuck the ball about a bit, go where I want and I like to play big minutes.”

An ever-present in head coach Lee Radford’s squad, starting in a dozen of his 14 games so far this season, Taylor has looked in even better shape than 2013 when he helped Wigan win the Super League and Challenge Cup following his six-figure transfer from Rovers.

Now sat in third spot, they are level on points with fourth-placed Wigan ahead of this evening’s game, eager to redress the balance for their cruel 26-25 home loss to Shaun Wane’s side in March.

“That was one of the games that could have gone either way and there’s been a few this year,” said the Hull-born front-row.

“But I’m really looking forward to going back to the DW and hoping to get on the right end of the result.

“It’s a massive game.

“If we win we go (joint) top of the table and we’ll have to go there and improve further on what we did against Saints.”

Wigan, of course, are set to see England full-back Sam Tomkins finally make his second ‘debut’ for the club after the knee injury suffered with New Zealand Warriors last August before his move home.

Taylor, 25, said: “Sam’s an outstanding player, one of the best in the world.

“He’s got a good attitude too, but on the back of that, that’s if you let him do what he can.

“If you defend how you should do and make the right reads, hopefully you can put him out of the game and we will know what we have to do to stop him hurting us.

“But Sam can always do something special and we know that, too.

“I’ve a lot of really good mates at Wigan and still keep in touch with Shaun Wane.

“They’re doing really well. They were not playing their best at the start of the season but were still getting wins.”