St Helens 36 Leeds Rhinos 8: Champions ease back to Old Trafford as Leeds wilt

Not for the first time this season, Richard Agar’s side were swept aside by unerring opponents who will now bid to win a third successive title in a week’s time.

St Helens, who finished second, will meet Grand Final debutants Catalans Dragons, the League Leaders; it should be a wonderful occasion.

As Leeds fans realised this semi-final had slipped away from them last night, they cheerily started singing “Catalans, Catalans.”

Hopefully, plenty more neutrals will back the French club in Manchester, too, as it will take an impressive side to wrestle the crown from this Saints side who were expertly guided by James Roby, Jonny Lomax and Lachlan Coote once more.

It was the ninth successive time Leeds - who came fifth - have lost against them and it is the fourth consecutive year there will be no representation from the Broad Acres at Old Trafford.

Leeds, with Rob Lui and Konrad Hurrell making their final appearances, were just 14-4 down at the break despite looking at one point as if they could be torn apart akin the league meeting here three weeks ago.

It was credit to their doggedness and resilience that they had stayed in the contest. For a while, anyway.

However, once James Donaldson became their second player to be yellow carded, following a swinging arm on Coote in the 45th minute, it was inevitable which way this semi-final would head.

The visitors tried unruffling the champions, needlessly sparking a melee on the touchline after Lui legally smashed Regan Grace.

But that only led to them conceding a penalty and Sione Mata’utia was clever when working a short-side to get England centre Mark Percival in for the try that essentially sealed their place at Old Trafford.

However, Mata’utia, who missed Saints’ Challenge Cup final win due to a one-game ban, will nervously await the match review panel on Monday given he was yellow carded for a high tackle on Luke Briscoe in the first period.

Hopefully they see sense; it should not even have been a sin-binning given the Leeds winger clearly slipped and fell into an accidental challenge.

Saints loose forward Morgan Knowles became the fourth player on the night to sit out ten minutes towards the end for a late hit on Kruise Leeming.

His side were 24-4 ahead by then and already thinking about Catalans after Coote’s short ball had sent Kevin Naiqama in on the Fijian centre’s final appearance at TW Stadium.

Luke Briscoe did respond but Percival added his second to confirm victory before Grace stylishly weaved in for his second, Coote finishing with six goals.

Admittedly, the final scoreline stretched out to add some gloss but it was mainly Saints finally being rewarded for how dominant they had been early on.

They were simply too fast and too strong initially, Alex Walmsley carrying on from where he left off in that last meeting with another towering performance.

Once more the gargantuan England prop left Leeds defenders scattered too often; how they must have been pleased to see him head off for a rest on the half-hour.

By that point, Saints were 14-0 to the good.

Coote dropped Lui’s simple kick at the end of the first set but the Saints full-back soon atoned with a lovely cut-out pass to send Grace sprinting over in the fifth minute.

Kiwi enforcer Zane Tetevano tried getting to grips with the home pack but failed with a number of attempted big hits as Kristian Woolf’s side continued to eat up ground.

Leeds did not help themselves either; Leeming sent a wayward pass into touch and Ash Handley missed touch with a penalty.

The latter was compounded with a dangerous tackle before some interference eventually led to Coote slotting the first of his two penalties.

The second came as matters got worse for Leeds, Tom Briscoe yellow carded for a 21st minute high tackle which poleaxed the Australian full-back and, on another night, might even have been red.

Regardless, Saints quickly made the most of the man advantage, not that Walmsley needed it as he blasted in again, offload and gave James Roby chance to twist over like the veteran hooker has been doing so for the last two decades.

Coote converted but the floodgates did not open.

Leeds were given some much-needed relief when Mata’utia was sin-binned but, soon after, they ignored a simple two points and, to the annoyance of his team-mates, Brad Dwyer also ignored a three-man overlap to waste one chance of getting back into the contest.

However, they did manage that three minutes before the break when some slick handling saw Tom Briscoe give Richie Myler just enough space to get over.

It was never going to be enough to prevent this Saints side marching on to Old Trafford once more.

St Helens: Coote; Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace; Lomax, Dodd; Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Batchelor, Mata’utia, Knowles. Substitutes: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Amor, Paasi, Welsby.

Leeds Rhinos: Myler; L Briscoe, Newman, T Briscoe, Handley; Lui, Leeming; Oledzki, Dwyer, Prior, Donaldson, Martin, Tetevano. Substitutes: Hurrell, Smith, Holroyd, Thompson.

Referee: Chris Kendall (Huddersfield)