Leeds Rhinos 22 St Helens 30: Rhinos stunned as Saints mount shock comeback

Admittedly, Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott had warned of the dangers a St Helens team – on a five-game losing run, out of the Challenge Cup and desperate for any sort of revival – might pose last night.

Yet, especially after the champions eased into a 16-0 lead, no one truly envisaged them actually inflicting the West Yorkshire club’s first Super League loss since early March.

Somehow, though, Saints turned around that mediocre opening to brutally punish Leeds who – having exited the Challenge Cup themselves at Huddersfield last week – paid a heavy price for a couple of uncharacteristic defensive blunders.

England full-back Zak Hardaker, normally so solid, unfortunately erred twice in the second half to gift Saints two crucial tries, while it would be easy to say his side also missed the talismanic leadership of injured Jamie Peacock when trailing 26-16 approaching the hour mark.

However, Jamie Jones-Buchanan stepped up with a suitably marauding run to lay the platform for Ryan Bailey’s barge-over try and, with Kevin Sinfield’s third conversion narrowing the deficit further, you still sensed Leeds’ indefatigable spirit would see them home.

There was no rousing finish, though, not for the Rhinos in what was a surreal game.

Instead, it was the inspired visitors who struck in the 72nd minute to settle it and leave Leeds nursing back-to-back defeats for the first time since last August ahead of Sunday’s Magic Weekend meeting with leaders Wigan Warriors.

Jon Wilkin’s fine downfield kick forced Hardaker into conceding a drop-out from which 18-year-old Luke Thompson surged over off Paul Wellens’s short pass, leaving Leeds deflated.

“We were in command (at 
16-0) but that was never the game,” insisted McDermott, who gave a debut to youngster Liam Sutcliffe.

“I was never feeling comfortable. We missed too many tackles at crucial times and a couple of blunders near our try line.

“I’m not scratching my head to why we lost the game. Saints handled the bit of adversity better than we did. We just have to wear that one.”

The first half alone had been a curious affair. The manner in which Leeds set off, or perhaps more the way in which Saints seemed intent on imploding, suggested it could be a Monday evening stroll for the champions.

They were 10-0 up in as many minutes after the abject visitors tried as many different ways as possible to see their coach Nathan Brown lose what little hair he has remaining.

Kallum Watkins, scoring for the seventh successive match, and fellow centre Joel Moon were the benefactors after a raft of early Saints errors.

Ex-Hull FC second-row Willie Manu loves an off-load but his attempt on his own 20m in the opening exchanges was pure suicide.

Though his side recovered momentarily, it set the tone and another knock-on from Thompson soon after gave Watkins position to strike.

Moon grabbed his ninth of the campaign with some customary footwork, while Sia Soliola was out on report for following through late on the creator Danny McGuire.

Even Wilkin, Saints’ experienced and erudite England second-row playing scrum-half here, did his utmost to add to Brown’s disbelief. Returning from a two-game ban for a shoulder charge, Wilkin was also twice penalised for high tackles in quick succession on Bailey and Rob Burrow.

With unerring accuracy and regularity he managed to kick the ball down Hardaker’s throat, inviting his England colleague to storm right back at them.

The first high tackle led to Burrow burrowing over from dummy half on 21 minutes but, once more, the opposition defence was abysmal.

Nevertheless, with Sinfield adding two conversions to make it 16-0 and penning Saints back with his kicking, plus a powering Brett Delaney playing the role of Peacock, Leeds looked more than ready to ease on.

But a couple of penalties against them saw the momentum swing and suddenly Stuart Howarth – Saints’ makeshift hooker formerly with Wakefield – was causing all sorts of indecision for Leeds defenders around the ruck.

His subtleties helped create tries for both Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Soliola close to the Rhinos line and, with Tommy Makinson improving each, they were somehow only 16-12 down at the break.

When Manu got an off-load right just four minutes into the second period, they were in front, Chris Percival haring away from deep inside the Saints half and Makinson finishing off the break.

He missed the eminently kickable conversion to leave it level at 16-16, but those two rare mistakes by Hardaker saw the visitors suddenly in charge.

Firstly, he tried battling out from behind his own line but lost the ball stretching for the whitewash allowing Anthony Laffranchi to pick up and score the most simple of tries.

Soon after, the 21-year-old hesitated going for Paul Wellens’s grubber as an opponent ventured close, all of which meant the ball ran through for Makinson to dive on for a similarly easy score.

Bailey responded, but Leeds simply could not find the requisite extra gear when it mattered the most.

Leeds Rhinos: Hardaker; Vickery, Watkins, Moon, Hall; Sinfield, McGuire; Leuluai, Burrow, Bailey, Jones-Buchanan, Delaney, Clarkson. Substitutes: Achurch, Sutcliffe, Moore, Kirke.

St Helens: Wellens; Gardner, Turner, Percival, Makinson; Ashe, Wilkin; Perry, Howarth, Thompson, Soliola, Manu, McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Substitutes: Puletua, Jones, Laffranchi, Walmsley.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield).