Super League: St Helens miss out on play-offs for first time after loss to Leigh Leopards, Hull KR beat Huddersfield Giants to seal top-six spot
St Helens have missed out on the Super League play-offs for the first time in the club's history; Leigh Leopards and Hull KR confirm their spots in the top six; Round 26 of Super League continues on Saturday September 5, live on Sky Sports
Friday 4 September 2026 22:39, UK
Leigh Leopards beat St Helens 48-10 to see the Saints miss out on the Super League play-offs for the first time in their history.
That result, along with Hull KR's 36-6 victory over Huddersfield, confirmed the top six as Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves, the Leopards, and the Robins.
It means St Helens finish seventh, without the chance to compete for a spot at the Grand Final, in what marks their lowest ever ebb in Super League.
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The unwanted history, the first time they have failed to reach top flight play-offs since the 1964/65 season, comes on the back of a torrid season which saw them sack head coach Paul Rowley after less than a year in charge.
Now, they will welcome Australia head coach Kevin Walters for 2027 as he looks to bring the once four-in-a-row champions back into trophy contention.
It was a happier scene over in East Hull as Willie Peters got to sign off what is potentially his last home game as head coach with the play-off sealing win before he heads to NRL new franchise PNG Chiefs in 2027.
Saints reach lowest moment as Leigh show play-off strength
The task on the night for St Helens at the Progress with Unity Stadium was simple: Win to keep your slim hopes of play-off rugby alive. Early on they had chances to do that, but through errors lost the momentum and with a light bench, that meant trouble.
Leigh then found a foothold in the contest and took it. A kick left acres of space for Josh Charnley to walk in for his try, signing his contract extension with the club in celebration.
Two minutes later, Innes Senior broke downfield and David Armstrong's pace was too much to stop, giving the home outfit a 12-0 lead in less than 15 minutes.
St Helens hit back as they have good territory through the scrum and Tristan Sailor sent a nice flick pass out for Jacob Douglas to dive over in the corner.
They then came up with a sensational team try as Sailor came out to the left and then sent it out to Harry Robertson on the right who dummied and broke through. His fullback was there in support to finish off the play and then add the conversion to bring the score to 12-10.
However, it took just three minutes for Leigh to reinstate their advantage. Senior ripped through the left edge once again and this time, Umyla Hanley went through a huge gap left as Matty Evans looked to be taken out by Adam Cook.
With the try confirmed and extras added, Leigh made sure to add one more blow just before the break as Cook kicked on a speculative pass from Edwin Ipape to score under the sticks then convert for a 24-10 lead at half-time.
Things went from bad to worse early in the second half as stalwart centre Percival was sent to the sin bin for a high shot, the Saints faithful sending off their man with applause after he announced he will retire as a legend of the club at the end of this season.
St Helens had just under two minutes remaining of being down a player but could not hold out as Ipape barrelled over from short range under the sticks. Cook converted again to put his side 30-10 ahead with a quarter remaining.
Poor defending from St Helens then allowed Hanley in for his second with three men trying to take him down, good hands leaving Saints' line in more than disarray. Jacob Alick-Wiencke added salt into the wound with less than 10 minutes on the clock, the home crowd singing 'Saints are falling apart again' as another conversion from cook went over to bring the score to 42-10.
With merely seconds left on the clock, and the rain pouring down, the party atmosphere went up a notch when Robbie Mulhern capped off a night to remember for the Leopards with a try on his 100th appearance. Over went the extra two points and with the 48-10 win, the Leigh Leopards celebrated as St Helens were left to ruminate on a night to forget.
Hull KR secure Super League play-offs in Willie Peters' final home match
Willie Peters bade an emotional farewell to Craven Park as defending Betfred Super League champions Hull KR confirmed their place in the play-offs with a sweeping 36-6 win over Huddersfield.
Rovers' 47-year-old head coach, who guided them to their historic treble last season then capped that with a World Club Challenge title, is departing at the end of the season to join the new PNG Hunters in Australia's NRL.
Results elsewhere confirmed that although Rovers have now guaranteed their place in the top six, they cannot receive a home tie in either of the two play-off rounds.
Fears their top-six slot could come down to a straight shoot-out at St Helens last week were brushed aside as first-half tries from Elliot Minchella, Arthur Mourgue and Jack Broadbent snapped the hosts' three-match losing streak.
In fact, despite still lacking the talismanic Mikey Lewis, who is due to return from suspension for the last game of the regular season next week, glimpses of last season's historic title winners resurfaced in an impressively one-sided affair.
Huddersfield have long since shrugged off their tag of top-flight pushovers and headed to east Hull on the back of an impressive run of five wins from their last six under Jim Lenihan.
Toulouse move up to eighth with win over Hull FC
Hull fell short of a second-half comeback and were forced to accept a 44-30 defeat to Toulouse in France.
Henry O'Kane contributed two tries and Cesar Rouge added one try, six conversions and two penalties to hand the hosts victory in their last home contest of the season.
Two Lewis Martin tries and another double from captain Aidan Sezer after the break ignited a Hull fightback, but was not enough after Toulouse responded with a pair of second-half tries of their own.
Hull take on Leeds Rhinos away next Friday in their final game of the regular Betfred Super League season.
O'Kane opened the scoring with a sixth-minute try and added his second on the other side of a 15th-minute try for team-mate Luke Polselli and a close-range James Roumanos try.
It was 30-0 at half-time after Paul Ulberg crossed the line after collecting Mathieu Jussaume's pass.
Martin and Sezer - who also contributed five conversions - finally secured Hull points on the board after the break, and Logan Moy closed the gap to make it 30-16 just before the hour.
Rouge responded eight minutes later, and an Olly Ashall-Bott try with six minutes remaining put the comeback out of reach.
Sky Sports will show every game of the Super League live this season, including two matches each round exclusively live. The remaining five matches will be broadcast on Sky Sports+.
