Rhinos win Saints scrap
Leeds have all-but prised the League Leaders' Shield out of the grasp of St Helens after beating their arch rivals 18-10.
Last Updated: 05/09/09 10:55am
Leeds have all-but prised the League Leaders' Shield out of the grasp of St Helens after beating arch rivals Saints 18-10 in a fiery encounter at Headingley on Friday.
Saints have held the shield for the last four years, but that honour now seems certain to move across the Pennines after the Rhinos won a fierce Grand Final rematch in front of nearly 20,000 spectators in Leeds.
Ryan Hall's brace of tries ensured Leeds moved two points clear of St Helens with just one game to go, and they just need to avoid a heavy defeat against lowly Salford to ensure they enter the play-offs as top dogs as they bid for a hat-trick of Super League titles.
England winger Hall proved to be the difference, with his finishing earning him two tries to take his tally for the season up to 30.
Fierce
The early exchanges were typically fierce and Leeds had forward Jamie Jones-Buchanan placed on report for a crunching tackle on Saints front-rower James Graham, while centre Keith Senior was sin-binned two minutes from the end for punching his former England team-mate Jon Wilkin.
Wilkin played for St Helens despite him earlier being ruled out with a knee injury, but the adrenaline of a heated battle kept him going.
Mick Potter's Saints took the lead despite being down to 12 men after Leon Pryce was sin-binned for the most blatant professional foul imaginable with an offside tackle on Scott Donald.
The Rhinos tried to make their man advantage count and worked Donald over at the corner only for slow-motion replays to show he had a foot in touch.
St Helens made the most of the let-off to score against the run of play when Graham offloaded to second-rower Lee Gilmour to crash over.
Level
Leeds took until the 25th minute to draw level through Carl Ablett's try, and the pressure again proved too much for Saints as Senior sent Hall over just before half time, with Kevin Sinfield's conversion making it a six-point lead at the interval.
Saints hit back seven minutes after the break with Kyle Eastmond opening up a gap for loose forward Chris Flannery to score their second try.
Leeds went close at the other end and looked particularly dangerous through the probing runs of McGuire.
Substitute prop Ryan Bailey was held up on his back over the line but there was no stopping Hall once he was given a one-on-one against Ade Gardner and he duly crossed for his second try on the hour.
Sinfield was wide with the conversion but added a penalty six minutes from the end to give his side the cushion of a two-score lead.
