Saints 38 Leeds Rhinos 14

A FIRST Grand Final appearance beckoned for superb Saints after this pulsating qualifying round at Knowsley Road on Friday.

For they may be just 80 minutes away from realising their dream of running out at Old Trafford on October 9. And although they face a daunting task at Bradford on Sunday, confidence should be sky-high following this eight-try demolition of the Rhinos.

It meant Saints notched their third win in four outings against Leeds this season, scoring 118 points in the process.

The story of this encounter was that skipper Chris Joynt and his men built up an early lead; almost lost it through lack of a goalkicker, and finally sunk Leeds without trace.

Tommy Martyn, man-of-the-match the previous week, managed only one goal from five attempts plus an abortive drop, while Paul Wellens found the target twice from four kicks. Perfectionist coach Ellery Hanley stated later: "I'd like six-pointers every time!"

Leeds' boss Graham Murray, meanwhile, believed his side had been "well and truly smacked" an entirely justified conclusion given that it was due to only two of Saints' tries being converted that Rhinos remained in contention until the 70th minute.

Slick-handling Saints then blasted Leeds fore-and-aft with a remarkable four tries from all points of the compass. At the risk of getting carried away this was a Saints' performance with few blemishes, and one in which choosing a man-of-the-match was a thankless task, although the accolade deservedly went to the tireless Joynt with other worthy contenders including Keiron Cunningham, Freddie Tuilagi, Paul Sculthorpe, Paul Newlove and Sonny Nickle in what was essentially a team effort with a capital T.

Saints were off to a flyer within three minutes when Joynt broke through Keith Senior's tackle 30 yard out, and Newlove took over to plunge over.

Martyn's adroit pass sent Chris on his way again, and this time Joynt found Anthony Sullivan up in support for the winger to race in from 25 yards to give Saints an 8-0 lead in as many minutes.

Leeds hinted at a comeback after that uncertain start, but Saints were in no mood for compromise and grabbed another glorious try, triggered by Kevin Iro, carried on by Tuilagi, and scored by Chris Smith.

Harris cut the Rhinos' arrears with a penalty in the 33rd minute, and the issue was back into the melting pot when a long pass from scrum-half Ryan Sheridan sent Harris over and the visitors' captain converted.

Leading just 12-8 at the interval, Saints enjoyed an early boost in the second half when Martyn landed his only goal when Lee Jackson was penalised, and looked to be set for a sizeable margin when Keiron Cunningham put Newlove in for his second try.

Jackson had other ideas, however, and caught Saints napping with a kick-and-chase touchdown which Harris goaled.

The turning point came on 68 minutes when Powell was turned in the act of scoring, preventing Leeds from at least squaring matters at 18-18.

And Saints made them pay when first, Sculthorpe and Newlove carved out a second try for Joynt, with Wellens landing a real pressure kick, and then Sullivan went in from 40 yards, leaving Harris and Marcus St Hilaire on a collision course.

Martyn's shrewd ball prised opened a gap for Tuilagi, who crossed the line near the posts but bizarrely veered towards the corner flag before touching down. And Smith rounded matters off when he intercepted a wayward pass by Harris in the last minute to complete the scoring.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.