St Helens too strong again

LONDON: St Helens underlined its status as the most successful rugby league team in the Super League era with a fourth consecutive grand final triumph at Old Trafford.

The defending champion’s 2412 victory over Leeds, in front of a crowd of 60,783, earned Saints a record ninth grand final win and enabled them to send Kristian Woolf out on a high.

The Australian, who is heading back home to be assistant to Wayne Bennett at the Dolphins next year, is the first coach to win three successive grand finals.

Saints became the first team to win four in a row and Woolf bested fellow Australian Rohan Smith, the Leeds coach.

Smith arrived from Norths Devils in April to steer Leeds from second from the bottom of the table to an unlikely 14th grand final.

‘‘We had a good crack. We played a bit and got close against a team who know how to play on this stage and they outplayed us today,’’ Smith told the BBC.

‘‘‘You’d still rather be here and cop a hard defeat than not be here at all. You’ve got to be willing to taste defeat to have the good days. It’s a great club and we’re proud of what we’ve done.’’

But this proved to be a game too far for Smith’s men as Saints’ halfbacks Jack Welsby and Jonny Lomax ran the show.

St Helens scored the fastest try in a grand final when Matty Lees went over for the opener with a little over two minutes on the clock. Fullback Jon Bennison made it 120 after 17 minutes.

Although Leeds sub Kruise Leeming cut the deficit before the break, Konrad Hurrell powered over shortly after the restart for Saints.

Mark Percival extended Saints’ advantage to 18 points before Rhyse Martin crossed for Leeds late on. — AAP