Leeds hold firm as Lyon inspires Saints fightback

St Helens 16 <br/> Leeds 19

Leeds earned the right to defend their Super League title at Old Trafford in two weeks time but only after surviving a Jamie Lyon-inspired fightback that threatened one of Saints' famous great escapes.

The Rhinos led by 19 clear points with 12 minutes to play, but Lyon then scored two tries and set up another for Ian Hardman to take the game right down the wire.

Saints get a second chance against the winners of tonight's eliminator between Bradford and Hull. If Lyon had had a few more minutes at his disposal they might not have needed it.

"Jamie is a fantastic player and very dangerous, but we did a good job on him for the majority of the game," said the Leeds coach Tony Smith. "We worked hard and deserved it, but it was a bit too close at the end."

His St Helens counterpart Daniel Anderson confirmed that he will be without Jason Hooper for the rest of the season with a dislocated shoulder, but also praised Lyon's late contribution: "It was a fantasticcameo off the back of space the forwards earned," he said. "I'm still confident we can reach the grand final, but all our personnel problems have come at once."

On a night when torrential rain made open rugby fiendishly difficult, it was Leeds who took the lead after 13 minutes. Lyon lost the ball in Chris McKenna's crunching tackle and it popped conveniently into the arms of Danny McGuire for the first try of the night.

Hard though Saints pounded the Leeds line, in uncharacteristic heads-down style, they could not break through. They were punished when Leeds showed them how to convert territory into points, Danny Ward thundering on to Matt Diskin's reverse pass and getting over for a try which Kevin Sinfield again improved.

Leeds continued to defend their line with great tenacity, both Paul Wellens and James Roby getting over without being able to force the ball down.

That preserved Leeds' lead, with the only question hanging in the air being how much their defensive stint had taken out of them.

Far from cracking, they extended their lead shortly after the interval through Ali Lauitiiti's 90-metre run to the other end of the field. Saints continued to dominate possession, but in promising positions Leeds' defence continued to force errors to maintain their apparently impregnable lead.

But Lyon, so well policed all night, suddenly exploded into action and Leeds were left hanging on desperately.

St Helens: Wellens; Hardman, Lyon, Calau, Gardner; Hooper, Roby; Fozzard, Cunningham, P Anderson, Gilmour, Bennett, Wilkin. Substitutes used: Higham, Graham, Fa'asavalu, V Anderson.

Leeds: Mathers; Calderwood, Walker, McKenna, Bai; McGuire, Burrow; Bailey, Dunemann, Ward, Poching, Ellis, Sinfield. Substitutes used: Diskin, McDermott, Jones-Buchanan, Lauitiiti.

Referee: A Klein (London).