Brilliance of Burrow makes the difference to Rhinos

To see him light up the Old Trafford stage once was good enough, but twice was a real treat from the little Leeds Rhinos scrum-half whose stellar performance against St Helens will live long in the memory.

Everyone’s memory except his own, that is.

“Until I watch it on TV I wouldn’t have a clue what happened,” said Burrow, when asked to re-live what is without doubt the finest try in Grand Final history after Saturday’s remarkable showpiece.

“I don’t know what I’m doing myself, so I can’t talk you through it. It’s all just a blur.”

A similar response arrived when questioned about his brilliant break that created the defining score for Ryan Hall with just 10 minutes remaining, completing Leeds’ comeback from 16-8 down.

If Burrow does not know what he is going to do next, how do opposition defences stand a chance?

His sheer unpredictability allied to that lightening pace, elusive footwork and shimmying ball-carrying, is the essence of his game and the reason he is the first player to twice win the coveted Harry Sunderland Trophy as Grand Final man-of-the-match – having also done so against Saints in 2007.

Not only that, he became the first to command 100 per cent of the vote, all 37 journalists agreeing he was the game’s most influential player. And Burrow started the 32-16 victory on the bench.

It is that last fact which initially caused some consternation for the former England star.

Academy product Burrow has spent the majority of his 11 seasons at Headingley as part of a hugely successful half-back partnership with Danny McGuire, so it came as a surprise when coach Brian McDermott decided to drop him to the bench back in July.

With Kevin Sinfield operating as six, and McGuire switched to seven, Burrow was forced into the unfamiliar position.

“It was very hard,” he recollected. “There’s no doubt I want to start for Leeds.

“Nobody wants to be on the bench and everyone would be disappointed but you do what’s best for the team.

“I just got my head down and got on with it and on nights like this you forget all about that.

“All I was bothered about was winning this game, with this team.”

In the age of ‘impact’ substitutions, rarely can a replacement have had such a telling influence as Burrow did on Saturday night.

He may not like being used off the bench but McDermott’s decision has proved undeniably effective.

Brought on after 26 minutes he quickly found holes in their tiring defence, none more so than for his thrilling try just 11 minutes later.

Taking possession at first receiver, Burrow ducked under Scott Moore’s high tackle and evaded a jaded Tony Puletua before finding open space.

Next, with his trademark acceleration, he sped clear of a despairing James Roby before passing Saints full-back Paul Wellens with a marvellous side-step and finally beating both Jonny Lomax and Tom Makinson’s efforts to deny him at the line.

Burrow was not sure if it was the best of his 162 tries for the club – “certainly there’s been none more important and it’s the first time I’ve scored in a final so that was a big thing for me” – but there was more quality still to come.

In the second half, with the scores level at 16-16, he crabbed out of acting-half before ruthlessly exposing a flat-footed Moore again to race clear from halfway, this time dummying past Francis Meli before sending Hall over at the corner.

Now with a fifth Grand Final winners’ ring on his hand, and having had such a devastating influence, the 29-year-old, who has played more than 350 games and is currently enjoying his testimonial, believes the club has proved all their doubters wrong.

Having finished fifth, few people gave Rhinos any chance of success and Burrow, whose impact was similarly destructive in the semi-final win at Warrington, admitted: “At times we could have dropped out of the eight and people were questioning this team again.

“But the fact we weren’t given a chance is a big thing. That gave us a lot of motivation and we loved it because there was no pressure.

“Fair enough, we haven’t been good this year but we’ve got big belief. I think we’ve answered our critics and all those who wrote us off.”

The nadir was the heavy July defeat in Perpignan when Burrow was banned for one game and the club fell to eighth.

“I watched it on on TV and it wasn’t nice to see but certainly that and the Challenge Cup final had a big effect,” he said. “We came away with a loss there against Wigan but learned a lot and it reminded us what it’s like to play in big games.

“Since then the results (six consecutive wins) speak for themselves. There have been real dark times and sometimes you question why you play this game.

“We’ve had a lot of bad week ends this year so it’s just more of a satisfaction feeling now because at certain times we were getting flogged on Mondays thinking we’ll never be in this position.

“But sport’s strange at times. Nobody expected us to do anything so we just went out there and reached our full potential. Thankfully, we’ve got a group of characters like this.”

The one remaining question is will Steve McNamara today pick Burrow in his England Four Nations squad after three years in the international wilderness?

“I’m just going to enjoy tonight,” he said. “I’d love to play for England again but obviously things have not been great this year so stuff like that is a bit down the line because you want to get your career back on track at Leeds.

“That’s the main focus and what happens after that happens.”

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