Rhinos rally to deny Saints

Leeds moved above Hull FC into fourth spot in the engage Super League table with a 28-24 win over St Helens at Headingley.

Danny McGuire crossed twice as the Rhinos, who had lost their last home game to Crusaders, fought back from 24-16 down in the second half.

Saints had moved ahead in a repeat of the last three Grand Finals thanks to 18 unanswered points before injuries took their toll on them.

Already without a host of first-teamers, including Kieron Cunningham and Tony Puletua, the visitors saw half-back duo Kyle Eastmond and Leon Pryce both limp out of the action.

Perfect start

Despite fielding a patched up team, Saints had gotten off to the perfect start when Chris Flannery scored inside two minutes, the stand-in centre touching the ball down after Ade Gardner had knocked back Pryce's beautiful bomb.

Jonny Lomax landed the conversion from out wide to make it 6-0 to Mick Potter's men before Leeds had even had their hands on the ball.

The Rhinos, who themselves were without seven first-team regulars, fought their way into the lead by taking a leaf out of their opponents' book with two tries from kicks by skipper Kevin Sinfield.

On both occasions Scott Donald rose above Gardner to cushion the ball to a team-mate, the winger first setting up a try for Dave Clarkson before Brett Delaney then swooped on another knock-down to finish in the right corner.

Sinfield landed one of his two conversion attempts and then put his right foot to good use again to set up a third Leeds score on their next set of six.

A hopeful punt took a wicked bounce on Saints full-back Paul Wellens, allowing Greg Eastwood to rush in and claim possession.

Keith Senior attempted to force his way over after the ball had been worked out wide before deciding instead to use the supporting McGuire, who scooted over for a converted try that made it 16-6.

To make matters worse for Saints they lost Eastmond, who was making his first appearance in nearly a month, to a nasty-looking ankle injury that the England international proved unable to run off.

However the visitors overcame the loss of one of their playmakers to end a see-saw first half in the same way as they had started it - on the front foot.

Some neat handling sent Lomax scampering over and almost straight from the kick-off a burst down the middle by James Roby set up Flannery for his second of the game, the extras being added to make it 16 apiece.

Sparkling Saints

Saints continued to sparkle in attack at the start of the second half, only a forward pass from Wellens ruling out a try, before Pryce touched down.

The stand-off dummied his way past opposite number McGuire to open up enough space for himself, though that proved to be just about his last act of the contest as he soon had to be helped off after suffering a back spasm.

Lomax added the conversion and then put his team eight points clear with a penalty awarded for a late hit by Ryan Bailey on hooker Roby.

Bailey did make amends for his infringement, though, by having a hand in the two tries in the space of three minutes that sealed the two points.

The forward provided the pass for McGuire to complete his brace after 65 minutes and then it was his offload out of a three-man tackle that allowed Danny Buderus to set Ryan Hall racing in at the left corner.

Sinfield kicked the extras on both occasions to put paid to a weary-looking Saints outfit that have now lost three of their last four outings on the road.