St Helens showed all their class to see off the brave challenge of Grand Final debutants Hull and confirm their Super League supremacy.

Daniel Anderson's men turned on the style with three second-half tries to secure a fourth Grand Final triumph and a fifth title in 11 years of summer rugby in front of a record Grand Final crowd of 72,582, just short of the new Old Trafford capacity.

In maintaining their 100% Grand Final record and completing the League and Cup double for the second time - 10 years on from their achievement in the inaugural season of Super League - Saints can truly be regarded as one of the greatest.

After finishing eight points clear of their nearest rivals with just four defeats all year, St Helens confirmed their immortality by once more rising to the big occasion.

Man of the match was full-back Paul Wellens, who capped the best week of his career after being named Man of Steel as the most prominent player of the engage Super League season - but it was very much a collective effort from the Challenge Cup winners.

The victory provided a fitting farewell for Australian centre Jamie Lyon, who brought the curtain down on his glorious two-year stint at Knowsley Road in style, and veteran prop Paul Anderson, who hung up his boots after collecting a third Super League ring on a record-equalling sixth Grand Final appearance.

It was all very predictable as Hull were condemned to a fifth defeat in 20 matches under coach Peter Sharp - but no-one could deny they gave it their best shot.

They were level at 4-4 just before half-time but crucially conceded a try in the last play of the half and fell away in the early part of the second period.

Yet Saints made uncharacteristic start in which threequarters Francis Meli and Willie Talau put their side under pressure with early handling errors. Significantly, both men went on to make up for the blemishes with tryscoring contributions.

There was a touching moment before kick-off when Hull ran out for their warm-up wearing on their tracksuit tops the number one of desperately ill former player Steve Prescott, who was a popular player with both clubs.

Both current full-backs, Wellens and Hull's Shaun Briscoe were inspirational for their teams, who were locked in a tense battle for virtually the whole first half.

Hull had their moments in a seesaw first 40 minutes which could have gone either way but turned decisively in Saints' favour in stoppage time.

With the scores locked at 4-4, the slippery Leon Pryce took Sean Long's pass to slide in between opposite number Paul Cooke and Graeme Horne in a diagonal run which took him to the corner.

As if to pile on the agony, Lyon kicked the touchline conversion to give his side a six-point lead when they would surely have settled for a share of the spoils.

Meli had earlier pounced on Long's accurate kick to the corner on 16 minutes while Hull responded seven minutes later when Motu Tony palmed Cooke's kick into the hands of Shayne McMenemy, who in turn got centre Sid Domic over for an equalising try.

When Cooke's conversion rebounded off an upright it was a sure sign that little was going to go his side's way.

Richard Horne twice got in the clear and Briscoe forced Jon Wilkin to pull off a trysaving tackle while winger Gareth Raynor was bundled into touch just short of the line following a delightful cut-out pass from Cooke.

At the other end, Lee Gilmour carved out a clear-cut chance which went begging and Briscoe denied Ade Gardner with a crunching tackle.

The near-misses became irrelevant, however, as Saints ran in two tries in five minutes early in the second half to build an unassailable 16-point lead.

Loose forward Jason Hooper's perfectly-timed pass got Talau haring for the line and then Gardner kept his composure to to catch Long's high kick off-balance and touch down one-handed.

A clear break from second rower Lee Radford ought to have produced a try for Richard Horne but Saints scrambled superbly to keep their line intact.

And hooker Keiron Cunningham, who had been a doubt up until kick-off because of illness, put the issue beyond doubt on 62 minutes when he took a return pass from Maurie Fa'asavalu and burrowed his way over for a fifth try.

Lyon completed the scoring with his third goal and his 410th point of a phenomenal season to end a fairytale stint in England.