 An Old Trafford Grand Final next Saturday, against the Wigan Warriors, was the prize on offer as league leaders the Leeds Rhinos welcomed fourth placed St. Helens to a packed Headingley, swelled by supporters wishing to witness the last home games of Rhinos legends Sinfield, Peacock and Leuluai.
This was the fifth meeting between the two sides in 2015 with the Rhinos having three wins under their belts, but the last meeting was at Headingley at the start of September in the Super 8s when Saints ran out as 32-18 winners, a week after the Rhinos had picked up the Challenge Cup at Wembley.
The Rhinos were firm favourites with the bookies, but only a fool ever writes Saints off.
Despite two early errors from the Saints, it was they who opened the scoring with a James Roby spinning scamper over thirty metres from acting half back, after Kallum Watkins earlier lost the ball with a loose carry. Luke Walsh added the extras from in front of the sticks.
On eleven, a length of the field break from the Rhinos seemed destined for a try but the ball slipped from Tom Briscoe's grasp in the act of scoring.
On sixteen, when Danny McGuire was adjudged to be offside on his own line, Luke Walsh took the two points on offer to extend the lead to eight points.
On twenty the Rhinos opened their account when Zak Hardaker slid over off a Kallum Watkins pass after Atelea Vea had been punished for a high tackle of Rob Burrow. Kevin Sinfield kicked the extras and the lead was down to two.
Six minutes later and interference from James Roby at the play-the-ball gave Sinfield the shot at goal to level the scores at 8-8.
Twenty seconds from the interval and a Luke Walsh drop goal was a clear indication of the tightness of the game. There was nothing to choose between two sides giving it everything that they'd got in the quest for that Old Trafford spot.
With the medical staff from both sides becoming almost permanent fixtures on the field, it was the Rhinos who came close on forty-eight when Carl Ablett went over but was unable to ground the ball under a great Saints defensive effort.
On fifty-nine Ryan Hall dropped the ball in the tackle and Roby picked up the ball and ran the angle using Jordan Turner to release Mark Percival to go over in the corner but with Walsh missing the conversion the lead was just five points.
On sixty-eight a Sinfield 40-20, followed by a quick penalty for interference, got the Rhinos field position. Ryan Hall crashed through four defenders off a Joel Moon pass to ground on the line. Kevin Sinfield kicked the goal, and the Rhinos edged in front for the first time, by just a solitary point.
On seventy-nine Saints were trying to keep the ball alive and a bounce pass went straight into the hands of Kallum Watkins who went thirty metres for a walk-in try to send the home side to Old Trafford. The hooter sounded before Kevin Sinfield kicked the extras as his last action for the Rhinos on the Headingley turf for a final scoreline of 20-13.
This was a real arm wrestle of a match between two great sides, either of which would have graced the Old Trafford turf next week. Headingley gave Sinfield, Peacock and Leuluai a great send off and they will travel in their numbers to Manchester to see if their side can win the treble.
The stage is set for a classic Grand Final, the first time that Leeds and Wigan will have met in the showpiece event since the inaugural Grand Final in 1998. There was just points difference separating first and second at the end of the season and with first against second. Ow in the Grand Final, that's how it should be...isn't it?
It should be a cracker.
Rhinos: Hardaker (T), Briscoe, Watkins (T), Moon, Hall (T), Sinfield (4G), McGuire, Garbutt, Burrow, Leuluai, Delaney, Ward, Cuthbertson. Subs: Delaney, Singleton, Peacock, Lilley.
Saints: Quinlan, Makinson, Percival (T), Jones, Swift, Turner, Walsh (2G), Masoe, Roby (T), Amor, Vea, Wilkin, Flanagan. Subs: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Walmsley, Greenwood, Savelio.
Referee: Robert Hicks
Attendance: 17,192 |
