St Helens (0) 12
Tries: Gidley, Flannery Goals: Eastmond 2

Hull (12) 32
Tries: Manu, Lauaki, Long, Briscoe, Yeaman Goals: Tickle 4, Fitzgibbon 2

Long signed a two-year deal with Hull in June

Sean Long marked his return to St Helens with a try as his new Hull side started the Super League season with a surprise win at foggy Knowsley Road.

Willie Manu burst onto a Long pass to open the scoring before Epalahame Lauaki held off Leon Pryce to give Hull a 12-0 half-time lead.

Long then went over himself before Tom Briscoe scored a breakaway fourth.

Saints rallied with tries from Matt Gidley and Chris Flannery but Kirk Yeaman put the result beyond doubt.

It was only Hull's second Super League victory at Saints in 14 visits.

But the match was almost postponed because of fog which caused the kick-off to be delayed by 15 minutes.

It swirled around the ground throughout and Hull certainly coped better with the conditions, with Long, who turned down a 12-month deal at Saints to move to the KC Stadium, taking centre stage.

606: DEBATE Even if it was the first game of the season in terrible conditions, we showed confidence and tonight's performance was magical. This is the year of FC! thomasambler

After a hard-fought opening 26 minutes, the 33-year-old made his mark when his pass sent Manu through.

St Helens had already lost Ade Gardner to a rib injury by that point, and worse was to follow when Sia Soliola hobbled off with an ankle problem moments before Lauaki extended the visitors' lead.

Danny Tickle, who had converted both scores, kicked a penalty soon after the break before playing a part in a fine move also involving Jordan Tansey and Richard Horne which ended with Long crashing over.

Briscoe then skipped away from a couple of challenges to outpace the Saints defence and race in from inside his own half.

And although Saints got points on the board through Gidley and Flannery, it was inevitable that Long would have the final say as Yeaman latched on to his kick to wrap up the win.

St Helens head coach Mick Potter:
"We were too lateral but Hull were very good.

"We didn't finish off our sets as well as we could have done and need to improve when we make breaks.

"I couldn't see across the other side of the field but that did not affect the way the footie was played.

"We put some holes in them but they scored more points than us."

Hull head coach Richard Agar:
"There was always going to be a big show from Sean.

"There was plenty of excitement in the week but it was Longy who gave the talk to calm us down.

"That's the mark of where he is as a player and clearly showed where his focus was.

"It was a great performance from us and we had to soak up some early pressure but handled it okay.

"It was a strong team effort, we took our chances and it was very pleasing to see us score tries from our own half.

"To keep Saints scoreless for so long was a very good effort."

St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Soliola, Wheeler, Pryce, Eastmond, Graham, Cunningham, Fozzard, Puletua, Flannery, Wilkin.
Replacements: Roby, Moore, Clough, Fa'asavalu.

Hull: Tansey, Hall, Whiting, Yeaman, T. Briscoe, Horne, Long, O'Meley, Berrigan, Radford, Manu, Tickle, Fitzgibbon.
Replacements: Dowes, Lauaki, Cusack, Houghton.

Att: 12,142.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield).

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