Saints 20 Leeds Rhinos 42 A DISASTROUS fade-out in the final quarter saw sorry Saints lose ground in the leadership race as rampant Rhinos continued their revival in baking heat at Knowsley Road on Sunday.

Up to then short-handed Saints were very much in contention with the scores level at 20-20 thanks to never-say-spirit, but they flattered to deceive because Leeds held most of the aces throughout.

However, a Rhino's squad playing trademark fast-flowing rugby then took control in scoring 22 unanswered points against a now bedraggled Saints' side lacking Kevin Iro, Freddie Tuilagi, Sean Hoppe and Vila Matautia.

Also absent through injury were Paul Atcheson and Chris Smith - who are not to be retained - and this is not offered as an excuse for the dramatic decline, but it did find Saints' short on experience against a Leeds' team really 'up' for this one.

In that crucial last 20 minutes a guaranteed recipe for disaster crept into Saints' play, including failure to complete sets of tackles, handling errors, woeful tackling and - whisper it after what had gone before - lack of commitment. Such self-inflicted wounds were ruthlessly capitalised on by Leeds, via a readiness to move the ball wide plus feeding of the scraps that regularly fell from Saints' table, which led to four second-half tries - sweet music indeed to Rhinos fans as their side moved to a sixth successive win.

A night of few positives then for Saints, except for the successful return after injury of Keiron Cunningham; moments of inspiration from Tommy Martyn and man-of-the match Sean Long; sheer graft from Apollo Perelini and Julian O'Neill, plus leadership from the front by Chris Joynt.

Facing the pavilion and the sun, Leeds were first out of the blocks on nine minutes when skipper Iestyn Harris and Adrian Morley carved out a gap for Keith Senior, whose 35-yard touchline run saw him score in the corner.

Saints almost hit back when Paul Sculthorpe was held inches short but, with Harris, Lee Jackson and Ryan Sheridan directing operations, Leeds were asking most of the questions and moved into a 6-nil lead when Harris kicked a penalty.

Despite being starved of possession Saints got on terms in rousing style when, after Cunningham and Perelini had set up position, Martyn and Paul Wellens sent Tony Stewart over for Long to tack over the extra points.

Even better was to come, as Martyn's slide-rule grubber was seized upon by Paul Newlove with Long again on target with the boot, but it was soon even-stevens once more when Harris jinked past Martyn and O'Neill for another six-pointer. Wellens then gathered bravely at the feet of Chev Walker but knocked on in the process, and Rhinos swooped courtesy of Sheridan, Harris, Francis Cummin and Senior to send Karl Pratt in at the corner which, along with a further Harris penalty, meant Leeds led 18-12 at half-time.

The rip-roaring pace was maintained on the restart, with Senior losing possession before Perelini was placed on report following a tackle on Paul Sterling with Harris landing the penalty, as did Long when obstructed by Morley, who headed for the sin-bin.

With 60 minutes gone, it was advantage Leeds by 20-14 after giving Saints defence a searching examination, but just after Mark Edmondson dropped the ball over the try line Wellens, Sculthorpe and Stewart sent Steve Hall powering through Senior to touch down, with 'Longy' goaling from touch.

Saints' joy was shortlived, however, as Andy Hay used Morley as a foil to score, and from then on it was one-way traffic as first Pratt snapped up a loose pass from Sculthorpe to hare 75 yards to the posts,which underlined the threat that he and Senior had posed all night. Joynt raised the seige with a brilliant break but to no avail, and any lingering doubt regarding the outcome ended when Graham Mackay put Cummins behind the Eccleston uprights, with Harris's 60-yard interception the final nail in Saints' coffin as the Rhinos' leader completed a 22-point haul.

Long and Sheridan found themselves at cross purposes - and in the sin-bin - seconds before the closing hooter, after a game in which Leeds had demonstrated the virtue of self-belief, with the victory itself being a notable yardstick of their recovery after a traumatic start to the season.