Rugby story by Dominic Taylor, Sun, 26 Feb 2006 07:28:00 GMT


St Helens extended their fine form in the Super League season as they secured a 13-4 win over Leeds last night. But in contrast to their earlier games, this was a hard-fought win for the Saints made sweeter by the fact that they did not succumb to pressure.

The Rhinos unexpectedly started the scoring as winger Danny Williams made a dream debut with a try on 24 minutes. But Saints came back strongly with Lee Gilmour crossing over just before half-time to put St Helens decisively ahead. Immediately afterwards, Jamie Lyon scored a goal and Francis Meli tapped in a try.

Sean Long made sure that he was not left behind as he contributed a drop goal. But it was a bad beginning for Leeds as Gareth Ellis had pulled out just before the start with a knee injury, which reportedly needs minor surgery. Ellis is expected to be unavailable for two weeks. The second half will be best remembered for muffed chances from both sides, as the tension seemed to get the better of players.

St Helens coach Daniel Anderson was happy with the way his players rose to the challenge, "I think Leon Pryce enjoys playing behind our pack of forwards and with Sean Long and Keiron Cunningham," he said. "The game was fairly physical and fairly brutal. There was a lot of errors but that was due to pressure."

Leeds coach Tony Smith rued that things did not go according to plan, "I'm disappointed not to have won but I'm not disappointed with a lot of other things. We needed to ask a few more questions. It was a tight game for both teams. I think both teams should be proud of their defence," he said.

Match Details
Referee: A Klein (London)

St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Lyon, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Long, P Anderson, Cunningham, Cayless, Gilmour, Sculthorpe, Hooper.
Substitutes: Roby, Wilkin, Graham, Fa'asavalu.

Leeds: Mathers, Donald, Walker, Senior, Williams, McGuire, Burrow, Bailey, Diskin, Peacock, Lauitiiti, Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield.
Substitutes: Millard, Poching, Feather, Scruton.

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