ST HELENS full-back Paul Wellens is confident his team-mates will soon bounce back from their shock Challenge Cup exit. Saints’ bid to win a fourth successive Challenge Cup and a fifth in six years was ended by Huddersfield at the semi-final stage on Sunday. It was Saints’ first defeat in the competition since losing to Hull in the last four in 2005 but the Giants were worthy winners at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. The Yorkshire side never trailed and eventually prevailed 24-14 despite a hat-trick of tries from Saints’ Francis Meli. Wellens said: “It’s not easy to take, we put a lot of effort in to get to this stage of the cup. “It didn’t go our way, we lacked a bit of fluency, made a few errors and didn’t come up with the right plays at the right time. “We felt confident and we created some opportunities but we never managed to take them, which is unlike us and very disappointing. “It wasn’t our day but we have had a bit of success in this competition and enjoyed it, so we’ll just have to take this on the chin. “We have paid a heavy price in not making it to Wembley but, apart from that, it is a defeat and we will have to learn from it and come back stronger.” Saints remain top of Super League with four regular-season games to go and are still favourites to take the title. Wellens accepts the Merseysiders were simply second best yesterday to a Huddersfield side that were defensively outstanding and produced five good try-scoring moves. Stephen Wild touched down twice while there were also tries for man of the match Brett Hodgson, Leroy Cudjoe and Kevin Brown. Wellens added: “You have to give credit to Huddersfield, they had a game-plan and executed it well. “They deserve their place in the final. The improvements they have made this year are out of this world, they have come so far as a team. “We expected a very tough game and that is exactly what we got. “It seemed every time we got ourselves back in the game they broke away or came up with a play to punish us. “It is something we will have to watch on the video and put right.” | 
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