Saints Hammer Leeds

Leeds Rhinos saw their winning start to Tetley's Rugby Super League IX blown away by St Helens with a 56-10 defeat at Knowsley Road on Friday night.

The Rhinos travelled across the Pennines full of confidence after their fine start to the season, but had the wind crushed from their sails with a superb Saints performance.

Ian Millward's side celebrated their progression to the Powergen Challenge Cup in style, charging in for nine fine tries and rarely letting Leeds get on the front foot.

Saints dominated from the off, heaping pressure on Leeds from the moment that Marcus Bai was unable to get to Sean Long's bomb in the opening minutes.

He dropped a second bomb on six minutes, and Saints took the lead immediately from the scrum, Long and Paul Wellens linking for Willie Talau to put Ade Gardner in at the corner.

They added a second try within a minute of the restart, Keith Mason's offload allowing Keiron Cunningham to race past Barrie McDermott and give Lee Gilmour a 40 metre gallop to the line, Long goaling.

Francis Cummins twice prevented Talau extending the lead, but there was little Leeds could do to stop Saints adding a third try on 20 minutes.

Paul Sculthorpe put Martin Gleeson through with a fine inside pass, and Jason Hooper supported on the inside to race in.

Long converted, and then put Sculthorpe over three minutes later after Gilmour had been held short, a third goal creating a 22-0 cushion.

Leeds rallied, but Gilmour's cover tackle put Matt Adamson into touch at the corner, while Long produced a trademark interception of Kevin Sinfield's pass ten metres from their line.

Long fed Gardner, and although Chev Walker got back to stop the winger, Wellens put Hooper through a gap from the play-the-ball for a fifth score,

Wellens produced a great tackle on Cummins at the corner a minute before the break, while Danny McGuire was placed on report for an alleged late tackle on Long.

Long moved Saints' lead out to 32-0 with two early penalties in the second half, and while Chev Walker stopped Hooper, the misery continued on 53 minutes.

This time, it came from a classic kick return from Darren Albert, after Sinfield's reverse kick bounced past McGuire and the Australian winger raced 70 yards up the middle to score.

Tongan centre Willie Talau almost matched that feat by powering through from Martin Gleeson's pass after a scrum to power half the length of the field, Long's goal giving them a 44-0 lead.

Rob Burrow, who started the game at hooker in the conspicuous absence of Matt Diskin, got Leeds off the mark on the hour when he darted out of dummy half and scooted 25 yards to the line.

Sinfield missed the conversion attempt, but Burrow's re-introduction had given them a new lease of life, Albert being sin-binned for holding down the England A star after another break soon afterwards.

Sculthorpe's 40-20 eased the pressure, and Saints used that position to re-assert their advantage, fast hands allowing Gleeson to put substitute Ian Hardman over at the corner.

Hooper brought up the half century with a magnificent touchline conversion, and although Chris Feather dived in with seven minutes remaining Saints had already done more than enough to half the Rhinos' charge.

They rubbed salt into Leeds' wounds in the final minute when Mark Edmondson collected the loose ball to race in after McKenna's pass was knocked down accidentally by Hardman.

"I am bitterly disappointed," said Rhinos coach Tony Smith. "We had an extremely slow start and you cannot afford to do that against a team like St Helens.

"They sniffed the blood and went in for the kill, and they sure got it.

"All credit to them, they can do that to teams and we have got to learn from it - and we will."

Saints coach Ian Millward said: "It was an outstanding effort and we answered any queries that were put to us during the week.

"It was entertainment for everyone - it's a good ticket to have in town. It was very enjoyable for the Saints fans and their coach.

"There were some players who really stood up. I thought Keith Mason was outstanding and across the board all 17 played well. It was just a fantastic performance."