Saints 35 Warrington Wolves 22 REVAMPED Saints took another step towards a third successive Cup Final appearance after this bruising battle.

But the outcome of this Silk Cut Trophy 5th round pairing hung in the balance until the closing stages. On a day when teamwork was the key to success individual heroics nonetheless had a vital part to play, none more so that the colossal contribution of Apollo Perelini, who came off the bench to spark the Saints' revival and took the Silk Cut man-of-the-match award

But the popular Western Samoan must have been closely shaded for the honour by scrum-half Bobbie Goulding, who kicked seven goals plus a crucial one-pointer, as well a forming a lethal midfield trio with Tommy Martyn and Paul Sculthorpe, who was playing against his former team-mates

Facing both wind and sun Saints started at blistering pace but were rocked when Doyle and Wainwright engineered a try for Roach.

Fully 17 minutes of cut-and -thrust elapsed before Perilini's devastating hand-off on Doyle opened the way for Anthony Sullivan to squeeze in at the corner, with Goulding adding the conversion.

Briers made it all square at 6-6 with a penalty when Danny Nutley was held down in the tackle, and Warrington's cause appeared to have suffered a severe blow when Doyle was sin-binned for a similar offence on Joynt, and the radar boot of Goulding restored Saints' advantage. Wolves roared back to regain the lead for the last time when Briers' slide-rule grubber saw Penny plunge over for another six-pointer, but Saints hit back in rousing style when O'Neill, Cunningham and Smith made the running for Martyn to race over, with Goulding's goal and further penalty meaning Saints led 16-12 at the break

A brace of penalty goals by Briers made it 16-16 with 50 minutes gone, but the Knowsley Road side forged ahead yet again when Goulding put Sculthorpe away, and Paul's slick off-load saw Newlove sprint to the posts. Consolidation was now paramount for Saints and it arrived when Cunningham burrowed over, only for Warrington to rocket back into contention yet again when veteran Mark Forster touched down, with Briers' touchline goal making the score 28-22. Goulding's snap drop goal afforded Saints a little breathing space, but they could only consider themselves home-and-dry when Joynt's shrewd pass sent Newlove on a diagonal burst to the uprights.

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