| St Helens (12) 24 |
| Tries: Lees, Bennison, Hurrell, Percival Goals: Makinson 4 |
| Leeds (6) 12 |
| Tries: Leeming, Martin Goals: Martin 2 |
St Helens won a record-breaking fourth consecutive Super League Grand Final as they ended Kristian Woolf’s tenure by comfortably beating Leeds Rhinos.
Saints made swift work of taking the lead through Matty Lees, with Jon Bennison sending them further ahead.
Kruise Leeming cut the deficit on the verge of half-time but Konrad Hurrell powered over shortly after the restart.
Mark Percival extended Saints’ advantage to 18 points before Rhyse Martin crossed for Leeds late on.
Victory for St Helens brings to an end Woolf’s time in charge on a major high, having won the showpiece end-of-season event in each of his three seasons in charge.
Building on the title won in 2019 under Justin Holbrook, St Helens became the first team to win four Super League titles in a row and also surpassed Leeds to win a record-setting ninth Grand Final.
Despite a valiant effort from Rhinos, particularly in a surging end to the first half, they were undone by a resolute St Helens performance, with Woolf’s side putting their shaky late-season form behind them as they dominated much of the match.
St Helens captain and all-time Super League record appearance holder James Roby started for the reigning champions as he equalled Jamie Peacock’s record of playing in 11 Grand Finals.
Morgan Knowles also started for Saints despite initially being banned over “dangerous contact” on Chris Atkin in last week’s semi-final against Salford.
Knowles lost a first appeal for the ban over the incident, only for Saints to submit a second appeal on Wednesday which saw the ban overturned and the loose forward was booed by the Leeds fans in attendance as his name was read out pre-kick-off.
Leeds welcomed Martin back from suspension and were also bolstered by Ash Handley’s return from a foot injury, while James Bentley started against his former club having missed last season’s Grand Final with a broken leg, but it was St Helens who flew out of the blocks.
Lees’ opener came as Saints tore up the Leeds defence, with Jonny Lomax sending him through to touch down one of the fastest-ever tries in a Grand Final.
They were 12-0 up inside the opening 20 minutes, with Jack Welsby putting in a perfectly weighted pass for Bennison to go in at the corner as Leeds struggled for answers to Saints’ storming start.
As the first half ticked on, however, Leeds eased their way into the game and were rewarded when Leeming powered over just before the half-time hooter.
St Helens reasserted themselves just minutes into the second half, however, with Hurrell able to muscle his way across the line despite his former side’s best efforts to thwart him.
Percival’s try sent them out of sight with Martin’s late try a mere consolation.
More to follow.
St Helens: Bennison, Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Hopoate, Welsby, Lomax, Paasi, Roby, Lees, Batchelor, Sironen, Knowles
Interchanges: McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Mata’utia, Lussick, Wingfield
Leeds: Myler, Briscoe, Hardaker, Sutcliffe, Handley, Austin, Smith, Tetevano, Bentley, Martin, Prior, O’Connor, Oledzki
Interchanges: Thompson, Leeming, Walters, Donaldson
Referee: Liam Moore.
