Harvey Barron hat-trick helps Hull FC upset St Helens at BrewDog Stadium on 6 August 2026
Harvey Barron scored a hat-trick as Hull FC beat St Helens at the BrewDog Stadium in a Super League match on 6 August 2026, taking his season total to ten tries and ending a long wait for a win at the ground. The result further damaged St Helens' hopes of a place in the play-offs with five games remaining.
Hull's victory was their first at the BrewDog Stadium in nine years and snapped a seven-match losing run in Super League, while it was only their second away win of the season and moved them above Bradford Bulls into 12th place. St Helens arrived injury-depleted, missed 49 tackles in the game and now look like missing out on qualification for the Super League play-offs after a run of poor results. Before kick-off St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus confirmed the search to succeed head coach Paul Rowley had been narrowed to a "four- or five-man" shortlist.
St Helens took an early lead inside two minutes when left wing Lewis Murphy scored, but Hull replied through Barron's first try after the visitors were missing the injured Davy Litten, who "has been linked with a move to Wakefield Trinity". Herman Ese'ese threatened twice for Hull without crossing the line, and Lewis Martin — returning from a concussion lay-off — stepped inside Jack Welsby to score in the 25th minute and give Hull the lead.
Welsby then scored for Saints in the 33rd minute, finishing a move from George Whitby, but Barron bundled over for his second try with the last play of the half from a chip by Aidan Sezer to make the scores level at half-time. That second-half leveller set the stage for Hull to dominate after the interval.
Seven minutes after the break Barron completed his hat-trick from Zak Hardaker's pass to put Hull ahead, and three minutes later Cade Cust scored from dummy half to extend the visitors' advantage. A Harry Robertson try for Saints was disallowed for obstruction and Hardaker converted a penalty after a high tackle by Daniel Suluka-Fifita on Cust to push Hull further out of range.
Robertson did force his way over with eight minutes remaining, but former Saint James Bell intercepted late on to score an interception try at the death. Saints also lost George Whitby — who had been returning from knee surgery — to a separate knee problem in the second half.
St Helens' scorers were Murphy, Welsby and Robertson, with Hastings kicking 3 goals; Hull's tries came from Barron (3), Martin, Cust and Bell, and Hardaker kicked 4 goals. St Helens named Welsby; Douglas, Sailor, Davies, Murphy; Robertson, Hastings; Suluka-Fifita, Humphreys, Walmsley, Keeley, Wright, Shorrocks with interchanges Host, Whitby, Evans, Matagi. Hull FC named Moy; Barron, Hardaker, Briscoe, Martin; Arthur, Sezer; Ese'ese, Bourouh, Hill, Batchelor, O'Neill, Bell with interchanges Cust, Aydin, Romano, Wood.
Interim St Helens 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.'
The defeat leaves St Helens facing a challenging run with five league games remaining if they are to reach the play-offs, while Hull move up into 12th in the table.
