Hull FC coach Brett Hodgson proud of players despite heavy defeat to St Helens

The Black and Whites had to battle against both a snowstorm at the MKM Stadium and the loss of captain Luke Gale, who was sent off for catching Jonny Lomax on the knee with his studs after the Saints stand-off had kicked the ball.

It was the fourth red card nine matches into the new season and referee Chris Kendall also issued a yellow to Hull centre Connor Wynne for a dangerous tackle on Jack Welsby.

“I’m super proud of the effort of my players, who kept working as hard as they could,” said Hodgson.

“But when you lose your half-back, you’re lost for options a little bit. There were some disappointing moments out there, some our own doing but some that were not necessarily in our control.

“What I would say as well is that St Helens were the better team. We tried hard but were just not good enough. There were lessons we got taught today that we need to be better at.”

Hodgson said Wynne was harshly treated but reserved his judgement on Gale.

“I had limited footage,” he said. “His foot went out but I don’t know how much contact there was and I don’t want to suggest otherwise until I see some clear vision.

“It’s hugely frustrating, you just want consistency and the message to be the same in every game every week.

“With Connor Wynne, the player literally jumped and put his own head into the ground and they sent him off for a yellow card. I think it was very harshly dealt with.”

Opposite number Kristian Woolf had no doubt the incident warranted some kind of punishment.

“Something had to happen there,” he said. “I’m not quite sure what but you can’t jump out at the kicker.

“We’ve brought in lots of rules to protect our kickers and that was a bit of an ugly situation. Action had to be taken.”

England centre Mark Percival scored his 100th try for the club and winger Josh Simm touched down twice before half-time as Saints romped to a 12th in a row over the Black and Whites.

The 20-year-old Simm, who got his chance after Will Hopoate failed to recover from a rib injury, might have had a hat-trick after having one try disallowed for a forward pass.

Woolff added: “They were tough conditions, there’s no doubt about that. It was freezing cold and some of our blokes at half-time were shivering.

“We still played some good footy in the conditions. I thought we handled it really well. I thought we were very much on top before the sending-off.”

Hull FC: Shaul, McIntosh, Scott, Wynne, Swift, Reynolds, Gale, Fash, Houghton, Sao, Griffin, Lane, Johnstone. Substitutes: Brown, Lovodua, Satae, Vulikijapani.

St Helens: Welsby, Simm, Hurrell, Percival, Makinson, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Batchelor, Knowles. Substitutes: Lussick, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Sironen, Pa’asi.

Referee: Chris Kendall (RFL).