Hull Sharks 10 Saints 30 Report by DENIS WHITTLE DISTANCE was the name of the game for Saints when - making light of the 120-mile trip to the Boulevard - four of their five tries were long-range efforts as the unbeaten league leaders threatened to run riot.

Then, with 30 minutes left, this top-versus-bottom clash underwent a remarkable transformation as a Sharks' squad lacking eight regulars and fielding four Academy youngsters at last bared their teeth to score two tries and leave Saints without further points.

The lesson to be learned is that taking the foot off the accelerator might have proved fatal against a better side than Hull, and although Saints were lacking Paul Newlove and Tommy Martyn their deputies Tony Stewart and Scott Barrow acquitted themselves well

Still on a distance theme the individual highlight for Saints were two magnificent tries by winger Anthony Sullivan who - returning to his native heath - left the Sharks wallowing in his wake, as did hooker Keiron Cunningham, who rocketed from within his own half to score.

'Sully' merited Saints' man-of-the-match rating, while scrum-half Sean Long, with a five-from-five goalkicking return plus a try, along with Paul Sculthorpe, Julian O'Neill, 'Freddie' Tuilagi, and Paul Atcheson often caught the eye, as did forwards Andy Ireland and Steve Barrow (son of Frank) in the Hull ranks. However, there was a price to be paid for a victory which kept Saints' bandwagon rolling merrily along, for centre Kevin Iro departed with ankle ligament damage in the 55th minute, while substitute Paul Wellens also quit the action after a clash of heads in the closing stages and was not replaced.

Hull applied most of the opening pressure with Sculthorpe saving Saints' bacon with a try-saving tackle on Jim Leathem, and it was 'Scully' who turned defence into attack by intercepting Fili Seru's pass to send Sullivan scorching 75 yards to score between the uprights.

Long's wide ball then opened the way for Apollo Perelini to thunder 20 yards to score, and with Sharks finding that honest endeavour was not enough to counter Saints' speed and invention, patrons of the celebrated 'Threepenny Stand' had had little to shout about with a scoreline reading 12-0 within ten minutes.

Long and ace distributor Scott Barrow then carved out another try for Apollo but the last pass was forward, but Saints were not to be denied as Iro and Stewart opened the way for the thoroughbred Sullivan to turn inside and leave Seru trailing in his wake for a glorious 80-yard try.

Sharks' full-back Steve Prescott, who had a good game against his old club, chipped over the Saints' line but the score was disallowed the ball had broken touch, and with the visitor's leading 18-0 at half-time it appeared the game was up for Hull.

Cunningham's rafter-raiser followed soon after the restart, before Tuilagi swept 50 yards down the middle to put the supporting Long between the posts, only for tragedy to strike Saints as Iro was taken off in some distress, while the oncoming Wellens signalled his arrival by almost squeezing at the corner. Not for the first time Atcheson came to his side's rescue, this time with a timely tackle as Prescott looked all over a scorer, but a Saints' squad whose defence had remained watertight were now becoming guilty of handling errors which placed them under increased pressure.

But it was only in the closing minutes that Sharks capitalised when Richard Horne, Paul Cooke and Leatham put veteran Rob Nolan over by the corner flag for Prescott to convert, and finally Martin Hall and 'Preccy' put Nolan in again seconds before the closing hooter.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.