ST HELENS
ON an emotional evening when Headingley said farewell to 86 years of history, Leeds marked the occasion with a victory.
The South Stand has been home to Leeds’ most passionate supporters since 1931.
They came in their thousands to stand on what they saw as sacred ground for the final time before demolition work gets under way and a new construction is built.
They sang themselves hoarse and backed their team with almost religious zeal.
As a club, Leeds have set standards on and off the pitch during the Super League era.
The South Stand is universally regarded as their ‘14th man’ and the contribution it has made to Leeds’ success is hard to gauge.
But consider the impact the famous Kop and Stretford End had on the fortunes of Liverpool and Manchester United and you begin to understand.
In the face of such frenzy, St Helens might have erred on the side of caution. Instead, it was Justin Holbrook’s side who asked many of the questions in a fairly awful opening 40 minutes.
Jonny Lomax and Matty Percival were very dangerous.
Indeed, it took a fine tackle from Leeds centre Kallum Watkins to deny Lomax from close range early on.
Plenty of the Rhinos’ former greats were in attendance, not least Kevin Sinfield, who skippered Leeds to all seven of their Grand Final wins and retired after the treble-winning campaign of 2015. Sinfield must have wished he could dust off his boots, seeing as much of the fare served up was way below par.
SPORT IN BRIEF
But in the 37th minute the game rose above the mediocrity when St Helens opened the scoring.
The architect was long-serving hooker James Roby, who found Zeb Taia, whose pass sent Lomax darting under the posts.
Percival added the conversion to make it 8-2 at the interval, during which generations of legendary former Leeds players took a bow. Eight minutes after the break, the Rhinos finally fashioned an attack of note as the ball went through six pairs of hands, culminating in Liam Sutcliffe sending Ryan Hall over.
Watkins’ conversion levelled matters at 8-8, prompting a huge roar, and with 16 minutes to go Leeds forged ahead when Aussie prop Adam Cuthbertson took Joel Moon’s pass and barrelled over. A Watkins penalty was then vital seeing as St Helens scored a late converted try through Danny Richardson. In last night’s other two matches Wigan thrashed Salford 42-6 while Hull went down at home to Huddersfield 46-18.