Battered McGuire plays through pain barrier with great effect

DANNY McGUIRE revealed he did not train all last week ahead of their crucial game against St Helens when his late drop goal put Leeds Rhinos ever closer to yet another Grand Final.

The England international’s 77th-minute effort saw the champions edge a classic eliminator with St Helens at Headingley on Friday and they will now play Wigan Warriors for a place at Old Trafford.

But McGuire conceded he had been struggling badly with an ankle injury picked up in the champions’ opening play-off loss at Warrington just six days before, making his telling impact in the game all the more remarkable.

“My ankle had been sore and I didn’t train all week,” admitted the 30-year-old, who now hopes to go on and win a seventh Super League title with his hometown club.

“The body’s in pieces a little bit but you’ve just got to get out there and do your best for the lads really. I was glad to get through the 80 minutes and come through it all okay. It was painful, but it’s a tough game isn’t it?

“It’s just one of those things and if you ask any player at this time of season 90 per cent of us are carrying bumps and bruises.

“It’s nothing new. Sometimes you have to grit your teeth and get on with it. I don’t mind.”

Leeds were thankful McGuire was there to settle a nerve-wracking encounter.

Kevin Sinfield, of course, is ordinarily the go-to man when it comes to such situations.

But the captain was put under intense pressure and so found his half-back partner, who nervelessly then slotted a rare drop goal.

“We had done a little bit of practice,” said McGuire.

“With play-off games there’s the potential they can come down to one point. Obviously we realise Kev’s going to be under a little bit of pressure so we looked at the set-up and giving him options.

“I put myself in a position, shut my eyes, kicked it as hard as I could and luckily it went through.

“We were happy. Overall I think we probably deserved it with the character we showed.

“We lost Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Brett Delaney to injury and they couldn’t come back on so we did it with 15 men.

“Saints deserve a lot of credit. They didn’t leave anything out there and were the more threatening team at the back end of the second half.

“That’s what made it a really entertaining game.”

While Sinfield has kicked 34 drop goals in Leeds colours it was only McGuire’s fourth in more than 300 games.

“I don’t get many but they’re always game clinchers,” he laughed.

“I don’t want to waste them during the season and save them for the play-offs instead!”

Leeds will be hoping it is not as tight when they venture to Wigan in their qualifying semi-final on Friday.

Ahead of yesterday’s ClubCall, McGuire was “99 per cent certain” Leeds would be heading back to Halliwell Jones Stadium for a last four meeting, believing Warrington would pick them as teams “don’t want to rock any boats” when they have that option and just pick the lowest-ranked side regardless.

In this instance, that was Leeds.

However, Warrington gave that boat a huge shove yesterday when they instead chose table-topping Huddersfield Giants to be their visitors on Thursday night. It means Leeds venture to Wigan where they won at the same stage last season and went on to lift the trophy from fifth for a second year running.

“We’ve done alright in these matches,” admitted McGuire, who was suspended for that match.

“Last year against Wigan and the year before we went to Warrington. Either place is really tough to go get the win but we like the play-offs and their intensity. We seem to be able to find our best performance.

“I wouldn’t say we were brilliant against Saints but the character was there and that’s what we need in these games.

“It’s very close, very tight and you need people to work hard for each other.

“I thought we did that on Friday. Some of the games have been a bit disappointing in the play-offs but hopefully that’s put them back into context. now.”

When asked if teams fear Leeds now due to their pedigree – five titles in the last six years – McGuire responded: “We are confident in our ability and whoever we come up against.

“Our form in play-offs does hold us in good stead going into these games. Whether others fear us I’m not sure about that but we definitely feel confident when it comes to knockout football.”