Huddersfield ended the four-year reign of Carnegie Challenge Cup holders St Helens in brilliant fashion with a second upset of the weekend's semi-finals.

The Giants took their Super League form into the cup at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium to hand Saints their first defeat since the semi-finals of 2005 and end their hopes of a fourth successive triumph.

Winger Francis Meli scored a hat-trick of tries for the holders but Saints could not argue over the outcome after being snuffed out by the tough-tackling Giants.

Loose forward Stephen Wild, a final loser with both Wigan and the Giants, scored two of their five tries as the Yorkshiremen booked a Wembley showdown with Warrington on August 29.

It will be the Giants' second final in three years but their first at Wembley since 1962, and they will be favourites to lift the trophy for the first time since 1953.

Under Australian coach Nathan Brown and captain and countryman Brett Hodgson, Huddersfield have become a superbly drilled outfit whose strength lies in their bulldozing front row and hard-working defence to which Saints simply had no answer.

Mick Potter's men lacked the creative touch of Sean Long, who failed to make his anticipated comeback from a broken jaw, while James Roby, who was back from a broken hand, failed to make his traditional impact from the bench.

Not surprisingly, the Giants began the match high on confidence following a run of six straight wins in Super League and it showed in a lively opening.

Half-back Luke Robinson almost set up a try for centre Jamahl Lolesi after running the ball on the last tackle and it was no surprise when Huddersfield opened the scoring after only five minutes, with Hodgson taking a return pass from Lolesi to touch down.

Saints drew level eight minutes later when they too ran the ball on the last tackle and left winger Meli took Jon Wilkin's long pass to cross for a try.

The best defence in Super League was clearly at fault in giving Meli too much space at the corner but the Giants defenders showed their true mettle in keeping their line intact for the rest of the first half.

Hodgson's positioning at the back was perfect and he twice got his body under attackers to save certain tries.

Leon Pryce and Kyle Eastmond were both denied by video referee Ian Smith while second rower Lee Gilmour, who will be a Huddersfield player next season, had a try on the stroke of half-time disallowed for a double movement.

Psychologically, that proved to be a telling blow for the holders, who made a disastrous start to the second half.

Saints substitute Andrew Dixon knocked on from Hodgson's kick-off and, from the resulting scrum, stand-off Kevin Brown kicked to the corner for Leroy Cudjoe to win the race to the ball.

It got even better for the Yorkshiremen when Robinson's high kick bounced off the head of Saints right winger Ade Gardner into the grateful arms of Brown, who touched down for a fourth try.

Hodgson failed with both conversion attempts, however, and Saints gave themselves hope with a glorious 80-metre try.

Eastmond, Pryce and Matt Gidley worked the ball out wide for Gilmour to kick ahead and, when he regained possession, Jon Wilkin was on his inside to send the supporting Meli over for his second try.

That set the scene for a frantic final quarter in which nerves showed with both sides coming up with uncharacteristic handling errors in perfect conditions.

Huddersfield's defence lived dangerously as Saints laid siege to their line and the tension was broken when Hodgson broke clear and kicked ahead for Wild to grab his second and match-clinching try.

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