St Helens weathered wave after wave of Rhinos’ attack to book themselves a second successive Grand Final appearance.

 

Matty Smith was the hero for the Champions – slotting over a penalty with minutes to go - but every single member of the team deserves the plaudits for a defensive performance up there with the very best.

 

It was a real playoff classic; only two tries, State of Origin like intensity, but it was the Saints that finally beat Leeds 10-8 for the third time of asking to seal a trip to Manchester.

 

Saints were forced to make two changes – bringing in Matty Smith for the injured Sean Long and leaving Maurie Fa’asavalu out on what would have been his 99^th appearance, because of a leg injury.

 

Leeds kept the same side that won against Wakefield.

 

And, on a slightly nippy night, the two teams served up an absolute feast of Rugby League.

 

Leeds kicked off and on the first tackle Fozzie was taken high giving Saints an early chance of an attack. Good field position was gained, but a poor kick from Matty Smith – his only error in an action-packed first half – failed to put the Rhinos under pressure.

 

On the next set, Lee Smith batted down a 30-yard pass from KC destined for Francis Meli giving Saints another set. But the chance was lost.

 

A minute later, Saints were back in business after Senior lost the ball on his own 20 metre line. But after working it wide and opening up the  defence, Wilkin flipped out a poor ball – trying to throw a blind pass – which was intercepted by Lee Smith.

 

The winger made no mistake by going the full length of the field to give his charges an undeserved lead.

 

It was an absolute wounder after the home side had dominated from the first whistle.

 

Sinfield then hit the post with a penalty; but it did nothing to dampen their spirits as Ellis chipped into the corner, only to see his ball go dead.

 

Saints needed to hit back quickly and they did from Leon Pryce. With quarter of an hour gone, the stand-off took a great ball from Matty Smith, cut back in on the inside and scooted under the posts after Keiron Cunningham had done the hard yards. Matty Smith added the two.

 

That score galvanised a Saints outfit who spent the next few minutes hammering Leeds into the ground and penning them back in their ten.

 

And, it was a tactic that paid off. On their next set, Matty Smith sidestepped the ‘D’ and sprinted 50 yards only to be hauled down on the Leeds’ 20. Wanting to play the quick ball, Sinfield interfered with the scrum half, who duly put the Saints two up from the penalty.

 

The Sky boys may have argued that the lad was walking and lost the ball, but an arm was clearly in there.

 

On 22 minutes, Flanno gave away a ball stripping penalty and the Rhinos began to attack. First, Senior drove the ball in then McGuire knocked the ball on in the most innocuous of places. No pressure; should have been an easy take.

 

Five minutes later, a great sideways run from Talau set Pryce off and then Ade Gardner, but the winger was hauled down before he got in full stride. Smith then put up a high ball into the corner and Meli was out jumped by Lee Smith.

 

But it was a series of errors that gave Leeds the chance fire back. Poor handling led to a lost ball and McGuire regained possession in Saint’s 20. Five tackles later Diskin sent in a cheeky kick that luckily rebounded off the post into the hands of Wellens. Man-of-steel candidate Roby then sent an excellent kick into the Leeds’ half to clear his lines.

 

And Leeds were given another chance when just seconds later, another error gave Leeds possession deep in Saints’ territory.

 

But the lads were up to it once again as first Senior was tackled on the line by Leon and then Wello fielded a great kick through from Burrow.

 

Half time: 8-6 and an absolute cracker of a cup tie that ebbed and flowed and never let up.

 

Saints have failed to score against Leeds in the second half during both meetings this year; a stat that needed to be addressed if the team was to progress to the final.

 

And they started the second half brightly enough pinning Webb back in his own half. But Klein gave a high tackle, giving the Rhinos the chance to clear their lines – something they failed to do; not reaching touch.

 

Saints powered back in through Pryce, but Klein blew up for obstruction, and the chance was lost once again.

 

On 49 minutes, McGuire forced a drop out as Leeds stepped up the pace and then Sinfield successful with a penalty attempt as Keiron was caught lying on.

 

After pulling scores level, Sinfield gave away a high tackle of his own and Saints had six inside the Leeds’ 20.

 

And in hindsight, perhaps the home side should have taken the two as Saints knocked on straightaway and then a comedy of errors led to Leeds touching down.

 

But, and thankfully, the video ref claimed Wellens got to the chipped through ball first and gave a drop out.

 

From the restart, Leeds managed to put the ball over the line once again, but Saints escaped as the Rhinos knocked on.

 

Another let up, and another timely wake up call.

 

Saints weathered the storm and put themselves within touching distance of the Leeds’ line with 20 minutes to go. But, and again, poor handling stopped any chance of a score.

 

Klein then penalised them for a high tackle and Burrow forced the Saints’ fourth goal line drop out of the game. It meant more pressure and more relentless attack from Leeds.

 

It was turning into a real battle and Saints had the post to thank as Burrow attempted a drop goal. Matty Smith then fired an excellent kick into the corner to put Leeds in their own half for the first time in a while.

 

A score had to come at some point and it did when Fozzie was smacked high and late in front of the posts. To be fair to perpetrator Peacock, he was lucky to remain on the field.

 

Matty Smith duly dispatched the penalty to give Saints a two point lead with 16 minutes left.

 

From the restart, Saints flew at the Leeds’ line. Firstly Leon hit-up, then KC stomped through the defence and looked for support.

 

But as he looked to his right, Flanno was penalised harshly for obstruction when he was blocking no-one on his captain’s run. It came at the worst time for Saints who were looking to go over the whitewash.

 

Another drop out from Saints with 12 minutes to go put yet more pressure on the defence.

 

And with 10 left on the clock, Leeds got possession after a Matty Smith kick was charged down by the face of a defender. Yet, after more pressure, Wellens was more than equal to everything Leeds’ threw at him.

 

Seconds later, Gardner excellently diffused a bomb from Sinfield.

 

And then a brilliant piece of kicking from McGuire nearly sent the Rhinos to Old Trafford.

 

On the last, he chipped over the Saints defence, kicked the loose ball again into the hands of Webb who was then hauled down inches from the line by Gidley - with blood pouring from his face - with just three minutes to go. Simply superb.

 

Saints then kept the Rhinos at bay for the last three minutes to heroically send themselves to Old Trafford.

  

Tries: Pryce

Goals: Smith (3 from 3)

Tries: Smith,

Goals: Sinfield (2 from 2)

Saints: 9

Leeds: 7

HT: 8-6

FT: 10-8

ATT: 12,064

MOM: Matty Smith (Saintsrlfc.com)

REF: Ashley Klein

 

Teams:

 

1. Paul Wellens; 2. Ade Gardner, 3. Matt Gidley, 4. Willie Talau, 5. Francis Meli; 6. Leon Pryce, 21. Matty Smith; 8. Nick Fozzard, 9. Keiron Cunningham (c), 10. Jason Cayless, 11. Lee Gilmour, 30. Chris Flannery, 12. Jon Wilkin.

Subs: 14. James Roby, 15. Mike Bennett, 17. James Graham, 22. Paul Clough.

 

 

1. Brent Webb; 2. Scott Donald, 3. Clinton Toopi, 4. Keith Senior, 5. Lee Smith; 6. Danny McGuire, 7. Rob Burrow; 8. Kylie Leuluai, 9. Matt Diskin, 10. Jamie Peacock, 11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan, 12. Gareth Ellis, 13. Kevin Sinfield (c).

Subs: 14. Ali Lauitiiti, 18. Ian Kirke, 22. Carl Ablett, 23. Jordan Tansey.