Saints 42

Leeds 16

FIRST-HALF strugglers Saints ultimately found their free-flowing flair with a belated purple patch to cling to the Super League leadership and leave lacklustre Leeds wallowing in the table's lower reaches.

But victory was achieved at a price by a Saints' side already lacking the injured Anthony Sullivan, Tommy Martyn, Chris Joynt and Vila Matautia, for skipper Bobbie Goulding and Alan Hunte retired with ankle damage.

Add to that the sad reality that a Loiners' line-up in transition and lacking Harvey Howard, Neil Harmon and Francis Cummins were a pale shadow of the side they were, and the ingredients were there for a Saints-Leeds clash of less-than-classic proportions.

That proved to be the case after the opening 40 minutes at Knowsley Road on Sunday, when a home side again bedevilled by handling errors and no little misfortune had to battle hard for a tenuous 12-6 lead against a Leeds team who had tackled well, but whose try-line nevertheless enjoyed a charmed life on occasion.

Despite defensive improvement, Saints' Super League pole position appeared in jeopardy when the Loiners' hit back with the first touchdown of the second period but then, as threequarter time approached, passes began to 'stick' for a Saints' side that abandoned safety-first tactics, and the spin-off was a six-tries-in-17-minutes rush of blood.

From a personality point-of-view the day belonged to Saints' Australian forward discovery Derek McVey, who claimed both the McEwan-Lager and Owens Corning man-of-the match awards with a rousing display highlighted by two tries, the creation of another - and a last-minute sin-binning! McVey must have been closely shaded for the double accolade by Keiron Cunningham, who notched a crucial try; inventive Karle Hammond, who moved to scrum-half with the departure of Goulding; or the hard-grafting Andy Northey, while Samoan Apollo Perelini returned from an abortive trip to his roots to exert a considerable influence.

There was also a joyous welcome-back after lengthy hamstring trouble for pint-sized winger Joey Hayes, who bounced back into scoring vein with his first touch of the ball, while the impressive form of fit-again Welsh centre Scott Gibbs must have left Saints hoping he re-considers his decision to revert to Rugby Union.

Full-back Steve Prescott's all-round excellence was yet another pointer as to why the Nutgrove-based lad has attained deserved international status, and another point of interest for the crowd of 8,702 was that brothers Chris Morley of Saints and Adrian (Leeds) faced each other for the first time in senior rugby,

A pleasant if blustery afternoon and a pitch which is a credit to groundsman Neil Holding and his staff greeted the teams, and Saints were rocked back on their heels when Leeds raced into a fourth-minute lead when busy hooker Mick Shaw broke away to send prop Barry McDermott over from 20 yards range, with Graham Holroyd landing the conversion.

Stung by this unexpected reverse,Saints' replied in positive manner to square matters when, after Danny Arnold and Hammond had done the spadework, the supporting Ian Pickavance laid on the telling pass which sent McVey between the Eccleston end uprights for Goulding to tack on the extra points.

Given the swirling wind 'bombs' were in profusion in the opening exchanges but Prescott and Holroyd were equal to the challenge, and it was via a more subtle approach that Saints were denied scoring chances, first when Northey and Hunte broke away but could not locate Gibbs; then Prescott narrowly failed to reach Goulding's chip-through, and finally Paul Newlove lost the ball in touching down.

McDermott and McVey were concerned in a brief spot of bother which referee John Connolly quickly sorted out, as he did when Newlove was fouled by ex-Saint George Mann who headed for the sin-bin as Goulding kicked the resultant penalty to give his team an 8-6 initiative with 20 minutes on the clock.

Holroyd fluffed a glorious chance to restore parity for Leeds with a 30-yard penalty after Pickavance erred at the play-the-ball, while the lively tussle between respective hookers Cunningham and Shaw continued to be a feature of a first half of cut-and-thrust variety in which an ominous note was struck for Saints when Goulding was seen to be limping.

Half-time was fast approaching when Saints' at long last got their scoring act together when Arnold and Hammond carved out an opening for Hayes to scamper in at the corner flag, and Cunningham and Newlove both went tantalisingly close as the Knowsley Road side sought pre-interval consolidation. End-to-end football remained the norm on the restart with Tony Kemp, Leroy Rivett and Alan Tait posing threats to the Saints'while, conversely, so did Northey, Gibbs and Hayes for a home side who then saw Nick Fozzard score a 30-yard solo try for Leeds, but Holroyd failed with a conversion attempt which would have meant a 12-12 scoreline with 55 minutes gone.

There was no hint of a mini avalanche of points at this stage. However, cometh the hour cometh the man as Cunningham lit the fuse in burrowing over from a close-in ruck, to be followed across the Leeds' line by McVey, who dummied his way across after Pickavance and Hammond had laid the platform.

A barnstorming burst by Perelini and superb support work from Northey opened the gate for Hammond to touch down, before a classic piece of centre play by Newlove was rounded off by a six-pointer and 22nd try of the season for Arnold, and then Danny returned the compliment with assistance from McVey in sending 'Newey' powering in at the corner.

Yet another break from the elusive Hammond enabled Perelini to set the seal on Saints' late points bonanza, which also included three conversions by Prescott, who then distinguished himself further with a flying tackle on substitute David Gibbons, who had put into the clear by a break from McDermott.

Down but not completely out Leeds had the final say when replacement Gary Mercer barged his way over with fellow substitute Setiki Tuipulotu adding the conversion, but the scores were of no more then consolation value to the Loiners, while the bottom line was that Saints' maintain their precarious one-point lead over Wigan.

Saints: Prescott; Hunte, Gibbs, Newlove, Arnold; Hammond, Goulding; Fogerty, Cunningham, Leathem, McVey, Pickavance, Northey. Substitutes Hayes for Hunte (28), Morley for Goulding (43), Perelini for Fogerty (52), Haigh not used.

Leeds: Holroyd; Rivett, Hall, Hassan, Tait; Kemp, Clark; Faimalo, Shaw, McDermott; Mann, Morley, Hulme. Substitutes Fozzard for McDermott (22), Mercer for Faimalo (34), McDermott for Mann (54), Tuipulotu for Shaw (70), Mann for Fozzard (73), Gibbons for Holroyd (76).

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