Helens

St Helens legend Jonny Lomax has announced he is to retire at the end of the Super League season.

The 35-year-old, who has not featured since fracturing his jaw in the defeat by Warrington Wolves in June, has made 388 appearances for Saints, winning five Grand Finals, one Challenge Cup and a World Club Challenge.

He won four caps for Great Britain and 11 for England, including a World Cup final appearance against Australia in 2017.

“Over the last 20 years, I have been able to live out a boyhood dream. Achieving far more than I could ever have imagined. Representing and captaining my hometown club and, of course, the pinnacle, representing England and Great Britain,” he told the club website., external

“I have been fortunate enough to meet some incredible people along the way, experiencing some incredible highs with them. As well as some testing times too.”

He added: “I will retire at the age of 36, grateful for the life the game has given me, knowing I have given it everything I could, with the scars to prove it (19 operations, including 12 knee operations by the age of 26). Despite this, I still feel lucky.

“For those that have supported me throughout it all… I hope I have been able to do you proud.”

Saints chairman Eamonn McManus called Lomax, who made his debut in March 2009 aged 18, “the bravest of brave in the bravest of sports”.

St Helens are seventh in Super League with three games of the campaign to go.

They are two points behind reigning champions Hull KR, who they play in the final game of the regular season, as they look to secure a place in the top six and avoid missing out on the Super League play-offs for the first time.

St Helens interim head coach Eamon O’Carroll told BBC Radio Merseyside:

“There were far too many times when we were shooting ourselves in the foot and putting some pressure on ourselves. We’re clearly not at that level at the moment where we seem to handle that the way we’d like to or how we have in the past.

“We’ve got some young boys in there who may have got exposed at times. They will be better for this experience – I’m really proud of the young lads – but at the minute we seem to be swapping one of our younger lads for another younger lad.

“We’re then automatically asking a lot of some of our senior boys.

“I think you can see where we are at with that at the minute.”

[On play-off qualification] “It’s going to be a difficult one for us to achieve, but it’s not unachievable.”

Hull FC interim head coach Andy Last told Sky Sports:

‘It feels absolutely fantastic. I just want to dedicate that to the supporters who have stuck by us and turned up in big numbers. It was great to get a win for them.

“There were some parts of the performance I was really pleased with and some parts of the game we still need to improve [such as] individuals’ decision-making, but I’m not going to take anything away from tonight.

“To get a win at St Helens, I’m really, really pleased.’

St Helens: Welsby; Douglas, Sailor, Davies, Murphy; Robertson, Hastings; Suluka-Fifita, Humphreys, Walmsley, Keeley, Wright, Shorrocks.

Interchanges: Host, Whitby, Evans, Matagi.

Hull FC: Moy; Barron, Hardaker, Briscoe, Martin; Arthur, Sezer; Ese’ese, Bourouh, Hill, Batchelor, O’Neill, Bell.

Interchanges: Cust, Aydin, Romano, Wood.

Referee: Liam Rush.

Betfred Super League

Bradford (10) 10

Tries: Steinwede Goals: Atkin, Hooley 2

St Helens (12) 40

Tries: Douglas, Sironen, Welsby 2, Shorrocks, Hastings Goals: Hastings 8

St Helens strongly came through an attritional contest with Bradford Bulls to move back up to fourth in Super League.

They were quickly 10-2 behind after a Phoenix Steinwede try, but from there the visitors fought back to take control.

Jacob Douglas and Curtis Sironen tries had them in front by half-time, but they dominated after the restart with 28 unanswered points and further scores from Jack Welsby (2), Joe Shorrocks and Jackson Hastings, who had a 20-point haul with eight kicks too.

The victory took Saints up two places in the table, level again with Wigan Warriors but with an inferior points difference.

Having faded after a good start, this was a third straight defeat for Bradford, who stay 11th in their first year back at this level.

This was Saints’ first visit to Odsal since 2014 and the home side responded to the sight of one of the great names of rugby league being back at this famous old ground.

It made for a very physical start following a hard-fought game at the Brewdog Stadium in March.

Hastings kicked an early goal for Saints, before Shane Wright was yellow-carded for a late hit on Chris Atkin.

With the Australian forward off for 10 minutes, Bradford scored 10 unanswered points, highlighted by Steinwede’s hard run into the line and a smart sidestep taking him over the line.

But that was the high point for the Bulls as the visitors turned the scoreline around with two tries in the space of seven minutes.

Winger Douglas finished well in the left corner to mark his debut with a try, coming in with injuries leaving a big hole in the backline.

Then second-rower Sironen, on his 100th St Helens appearance, proved unstoppable from close range as Paul Rowley’s side went in ahead at the break.

That advantage was extended within a few minutes of the restart as Welsby got his hand down to Hastings’ grubber kick before the ball went dead.

Shorrocks took advantage when his own little kick bounced up kindly to dive over. Hastings then grabbed a try of his own after Harry Robertson had parried down the Australian’s chipped kick to move the lead out to 20 points and effectively seal the success.

Welsby got his second and St Helens’ sixth try, but the match ended on a worrying note after a very serious-looking injury for Bradford forward Will Gardiner, who needed treatment on the field from both sets of medical teams before he was carried off on a stretcher.