St Helens (18) 26
Tries: Gidley 2, Roby, Pryce, Wheeler Goals: Long 3

Leeds (6) 18
Tries: Senior 2, Hall Goals: Sinfield 3

Leeds and St Helens produced a gruelling physical encounter

Leeds' unbeaten start to the season came to an end in a bruising and hugely entertaining clash with St Helens.

Matt Gidley's early try was cancelled out by Keith Senior only for Chris Flannery to set up James Roby and Leon Pryce to add a third before the break.

Saints seemed rattled after a furious start to the second half, and winger Ryan Hall struck first for Leeds.

Tries by Gary Wheeler and Gidley made sure of a home win, although Senior claimed the final score for the Rhinos.

Saints' defence was tested from the first minute, as Leeds hurled themselves into attack, but for all their efforts they did not manage to put any points on the board.

While the visitors got their breath back, it was Saints' turn to go on the attack, and Jon Wilkin came within inches of the opening try when Pryce jinked through the defence and gave him a basketball-style pass.

Senior and Hall held him up just short of the line on the sixth tackle to keep the score 0-0 but just a minute later Gidley danced in to score, again set up by Pryce.

Kevin Sinfield's slick offload set up a cross-field move rounded off when Senior went over in the left-hand corner, a historic try as it kept up his record of having scored in every season of Super League.

Both defences looked so strong that tries were always going to be hard to come by, and when the next one came along, it was set up by Flannery's angled run ripping a hole in the Rhinos defence, allowing Roby to finish off an attacking move he had himself started.

With the break approaching, Pryce span through a couple of tackles to touch down for Saints third try.

The simmering tension between the sides came to the surface when Ryan Bailey clattered into Maurie Fa'asavalu, causing the Saints man to go off with a bloodied face, and in the aftermath, it was Leeds who scored first, when Senior put Hall over in the left-hand corner.

The Rhinos sensed they had a chance of getting back into the match continued at a furious pace, but it was Saints who scored next, with Wheeler adding to his reputation when he finished off a neat passing move involving Pryce and Paul Wellens.

Gidley then bagged his second try of the night, set up by Flannery's burst out of defence to make sure of the win, and although Leeds claimed the final try of the night through Senior, Saints' victory was more commanding than the scoreline suggested.

St Helens coach Mick Potter:

"I would say it's our best performance. This will boost our confidence.

"It was a good game for the fans to watch. I certainly enjoyed it and I enjoyed the two points.

"I thought our attack was good. We did what we practised this week."

Leeds coach Brian McClennan:

"We were good in patches. We did some nice plays and there were periods when we defended well but we lost our grip before half-time when Saints scored some points.

"We haven't quite pieced everything together yet but we're getting there. It's a long season and we can take some positives from the game."

St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Gilmour, Wheeler, Pryce, Long, Graham, Cunningham, Hargreaves, Wilkin, Flannery, Clough. Replacements: Cayless, Roby, Fa'asavalu, Ashurst.

Leeds: Webb, Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Diskin, Peacock, Ablett, Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield. Replacements: Bailey, Burgess, Gibson, Allan.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington)

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