Round 19
St Helens 10 l. Leeds Rhinos 22

2007 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Burrow the inspiration as Leeds complete double over Saints
Sat July 7, 2007
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Rob Burrow provided the inspiration as Leeds Rhinos completed a famous double over St Helens to give the reigning engage Super League champions a bitter taste of surrendering points.

Saints clinched all three major trophies with something to spare last season, but their current campaign is threatening to take a serious turn for the worse.

Having slumped to a heavy 38-19 defeat at Headingley Carnegie in April, they were again on the receiving end of Tony Smith's men, who claimed a deserved victory.

Leeds - inspired by Burrow on his 200th Rhinos appearance - ran Saints ragged in the second half with two late tries from youngster Ryan Hall and Jordan Tansey.

The Rhinos struck the opening blow with a fourth-minute penalty from Kevin Sinfield and though the hosts sought to produce a swift response, Keiron Cunningham's horribly overcooked pass did Lee Gilmour no favours and the opportunity was lost.

In the 14th minute, Saints rookie Matty Smith, again deputising for Sean Long at scrum-half, almost contrived to send his side further behind.

Smith, who trained alongside Wayne Rooney during his time as a junior footballer with Everton, allowed his clumsy kick to be charged down by Sinfield.

The Leeds skipper's delightful flicked pass gave Clinton Toopi a clear sight of the whitewash from 40 metres out.

Toopi showed impressive pace to race almost 40 metres and go agonisingly close to the line, but Saints centre Matt Gidley got the slightest, most vital, of touches to halt his progress.

Leeds managed to keep the ball alive, however, but Burrow uncharacteristically overplayed a short offload to Hall, who could not help but knock on with the line at his mercy.

As the half progressed Saints began to click into gear and an exhilarating sequence of passing culminated with Willie Talau claiming a try, but the effort was rightly disallowed by video referee Ian Smith after the Kiwi failed to ground the ball properly.

But, with 26 minutes gone, Saints scored when James Roby exploited a hideous gap in the visitors' defence and scuttled clear from close range.

Ste Tyrer added the extras but Leeds responded impressively as Sinfield found Danny McGuire who scampered under the posts and punched the air in delight.

Sinfield's goal edged Rhinos but Tyrer struck shortly before the interval hooter, grounding in the left corner to finish off a bewildering array of inter-passing between Leon Pryce, James Graham and Talau.

He failed to convert the try from a difficult angle but the teenager's try had at least edged his side into a 10-8 lead.

It was to prove short-lived, though, as Burrow - at 5ft 5in the smallest man in Super League - registered a fine effort in the 47th minute which was all of his own making.

The Great Britain scrum-half collected possession and some lovely footwork saw him weave his way past Graham and Paul Clough for a try which Sinfield converted.

It was a fine way for Burrow to mark his 200th Rhinos appearance and prompted St Helens to up the tempo as the half wore on.

However, Keith Senior put Hall over in the right corner with six minutes remaining before Tansey's interception try three minutes later sealed an impressive success for Leeds.

Report source: www.superleague.co.uk

Article: Smith joy after Rhinos charge

Advanced Search