Leeds Rhinos 12 Saints 28

SUPERB Saints gave re-instated coach Ellery Hanley the best possible welcome-back with this magnificent victory in the packed Headingley cauldron on Friday night.

They also ended a 13-match winning run by the Rhinos. It was the visitors' first success at Leeds in five outings, and the clash was a real 'four-pointer' in that it leap-frogged Saints into second place in the table above the Cup holders.

Although not the showpiece usually associated with these sides, the game was 80 minutes of pure theatre which might have been fought under Marquis of Queensbury rules and be summed up as explosive, given that six players fell foul of referee Russell Smith.

The opening was sensational with Rhinos forward Adrian Morley shown the red card within two minutes, while his captain Iestyn Harris and Saints' skipper Chris Joynt, Vila Matautia and Paul Atcheson were all sin-binned. Morley's dismissal for retaliation on Paul Davidson may have been harsh and obviously gave Leeds a ready-made excuse for defeat, but it has also been the Rhinos proud boast that they have won three games - including one against Wigan - with 12 men this season.

This strengthens the belief that being short-handed tends to lift a side, particularly at this level, but not on this occasion, for by common consent Saints were really 'up' for this one and were worthy winners, as a try tally of five to one confirms.

Winger Chris Smith claimed three to notch a genuine hat-trick, with the first coming when the teams were level pegging with 63 minutes gone, but despite his scoring heroics Chris would be the first to conceded that Saints' double over Leeds was essentially a team effort.

Nonetheless Sean Long earned the media man-of-the-match award closely shaded by Sonny Nickle and Keiron Cunningham, after a gripping encounter in which Saints' leech-like defence nullified Leeds' possession pull in the first half before brilliant handling won the day later

Morley's dismissal had hardly sunk in when Leeds were awarded three successive penalties which Harris converted to give the Rhinos a six-point platform, and the large Saints support where left to think 'here we go again' remembering Iestyn's eight goals in February's cup-tie.

Saints were very much on the back foot at this stage in being penned in their own half, but Kevin Iro and Smith brought relief in breaking on the right before Joynt, Tommy Martyn and Paul Newlove gave Anthony Sullivan a sniff of the Leeds' line and he rounded Harris to score. Paul Atcheson (on Andy Hay) and Joynt (on Ryan Sheridan) were try-saving tackles to savour as Saints continued to stifle Leeds' attacking flair, and when Martyn hoisted a 'bomb' for 'Patch' to outjump Francis Cummins for Nickle to crash over Long's goal made it 10-6 at the break.

One felt that Saints had weathered the storm, but Leeds had other ideas, and hit back when Brad Godden raced through to send Darryl Powell in, but Harris failed to restore the lead to the Rhinos with the conversion, while Long saved Saints' bacon with a last-gasp tackle on Anthony Farrell, and Marvin Golden managed to hold 'Sully' after a 50-yard run.

Long and Harris swapped penalties to bring the score to 12-12, and it was at this point that the game was 11-a-side with Leeds briefly holding a 12-11 advantage due to the conveyor-belt sin-binning, which left both supporters and scribes yearning for the more pleasing aspects of Rugby League football.

And they came (for Saints' fans at least) via pony-tailed Freddie Tuilagi, who powered through to send Smith blasting past Marcus St. Hilaire to score, and when Long's scintillating run and Martyn's adroit off-load put Smith over again for Long to convert Saints led 22-12 on 70 minutes.

Iro carved out the opening for Smith's third touchdown to which Long added his fourth goals to round off an epic display by Saints, which did much to dispel recent off-field traumas and must be a tremendous boost to top-five and Grand Final prospects.

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