Tony Puletua grabbed a brace of tries as St Helens stretched their lead at the top of the engage Super League table by ruthlessly defeating Harlequins.

Puletua crossed twice in the first half as Saints ran in six tries before the interval, and two more after the break in a dominant display.

For Harlequins it is a sixth successive defeat which leaves their play-off hopes in severe jeopardy.

The Saints were on the offensive right from the off, and signalled their intentions inside the opening five minutes when Tom Armstrong rounded off a flowing move in the corner to open the scoring.

Quins held their own for the opening quarter of an hour, providing some stiff defence but precious little in attack.

The visitors needed to score again to open up the home side and it came from Puletua who barged over after good work by James Graham.

It was Graham who was next to cross, profiting from a superbly-executed 40/20 kick from Leon Pryce to bulldoze over.

Saints were going through the gears and the hosts were found severely wanting, with three more tries to come in the first half alone.

Kyle Eastmond helped himself to the next try, feasting on a break by Pryce that saw the rangy stand-off held just short.

As the Londoners' heads dropped Saints kept up the momentum, and Puletua and Pryce ran in further scores before the interval.

The hosts finally showed some signs of life after the break, forwards Gareth Haggerty and Chad Robinson showing their strength to crash over.

But these tries sandwiched a further Saints effort after Chris Dean scorched over in the corner.

The visitors showed no signs of letting up and Jon Wilkin was the next to add his name to the tally.

Quins rallied late on with tries from Danny Ward and Matt Gafa but it was too little too late.