One of the biggest games of the season potentially and despite our excellent second half last week I think it could have come a couple of weeks too early for us, we cannot give saints 16 start and expect to come back against them so we have to be assertive from the first whistle and make sure they do not get a roll on early doors. We should turn out the same 17 as in the first 2 rounds with the possible exception of Feather replacing Scruton, who did not show much last week and as we all know now Danny Williams replacing Lee Smith on the left wing. Saints are bound to target our left wing and we are going to need Keith Senior to stand up and do what he was doing for most of last season until he got injured, justify his billing as GB’s best centre.
Saints should see the return of Jon Wilkin and Paul Anderson in place of Nick (who said leading with the elbow was illegal) Fozzard and Mike Bennett as their only changes from last weeks easy victory against Cas.

It is set to be a cold but dry night so we could see some decent flowing rugby which is probably not good for our prospects, I fancy a helping hand from the officials who are led by Mr Ashley Klein this evening and a close game, if we can keep them within 6 points to the last quarter, I think we could do it.


I predict Saints 26 – Rhinos 28


Here are the odds for the game;


Team to Score First
St Helens 4/7

Leeds 5/4


Time of 1st Try
Before 9 mins 59 secs 5/6

Add After 9 mins 59 secs 5/6


First Scoring Play
St Helens - Try 1/1

St Helens - Penalty 11/2
St Helens - Drop Goal 80/1

Leeds - Try 13/8
Leeds - Penalty 11/2

Leeds - Drop Goal 80/1


Tryscorer Shirt Numbers
Over 72.5 5/6

Under 72.5 5/6


Race to 10 Points
St Helens 5/11

Leeds 13/8
Neither Team 50/1


Will any team score 3 unanswered tries?

Yes 1/2
No 6/4


Double Result

St Helens - St Helens 8/13
St Helens - Tie 50/1

St Helens - Leeds 7/1
Tie - St Helens 18/1

Tie - Tie 100/1
Tie - Leeds 22/1

Leeds - St Helens 6/1
Leeds - Tie 66/1

Leeds - Leeds 10/3



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With crowds this season across SL XI averaging over 10,000, we are set to be playing in front of the biggest crowd of the weekend for the 3rd week running, showing once again that we are the team everybody wants to watch.


Below are my predictions for round 3

After a good first 15 minutes in which The Rhinos could have had a couple of tries when well placed. The Warriors started to get back into the game and got the first try on 20 minutes after a high ball to our left corner was flicked back inside despite the presence of several Leeds players and Tomkins went over - 4-0, no conversion.

We were unlucky to be behind and at this point I was starting to see what a lot of opposing fans have been telling us for 2 years - Keith Senior has had his best days. In the first 20 minutes his contribution to the game had been one dropped pass when all he had to do was collect and fall over the line; an inside pass to nobody when it was not necessary; giving Wigan possession in a good position and a poor effort to get off the ground to collect the bomb from which Wigan had just scored, I put it down to early season rustiness but will be expecting better next week.
Other than Senior we had done little wrong and after 30 minutes I though Ali had got us back into the game but the score was ruled out for a double movement. Unbelievably within 3 minutes of that we were 16-0 down with Wigan scoring 2 tries in 2 minutes through Godwin & Ashton both converted.


HT: 16-0


We came out in the second half looking like we still believed we were in with a shout and after seeing plenty of ball we finally went over on 50 with Shane Millard diving over from close in. 2 minutes later and Danny McGuire went over.

With both tries converted it was 16-12 to Wigan and it was now anybody's game.
Wigan made a couple of clean breaks from distance but we were able to scramble and clear the danger - other than that Wigan caused us few problems. There was no further scoring until 72 when Kevin Sinfield returned to the field and forced his way over again from close range, he converted and we were in front for the first time 16-18 and we deserved it. With a couple minutes to go Jamie Peacock offloaded brilliantly to McGuire who drew the last defender and released to Rob Burrow who went over under the posts, Sinfield converted and the comeback was complete 16-24 and we still looked strong at the end.


FT 16-24


My Opinion: Lee Smith never looked troubled by the threat of Calderwood but is struggling with an ankle injury for next week and I thought Chev Walker had a decent game but the big test will come next week at KR.

This is the first big one of the season but probably a week before we want it fitness wise, it is certainly a game we could do with winning bearing in mind who we have got next up.
With Mark O’Neill still unlikely to feature for a few weeks, I expect the Rhinos to go with the same 17 that beat the Giants last week.

Wigan are likely to be unchanged as well from the 17 that lost in France last week meaning Mark Calderwood in direct opposition with Lee Smith.


My Opinion: Both teams look fairly evenly matched to me with Wigan likely to improve on last year and us going slightly backwards.

A close game but I think the Rhinos will edge it by 6.


Here are the odds for the game..


Team to Score First
Wigan 6/5

Leeds 8/13


Double Result
Wigan - Wigan 12/5

Wigan - Tie 40/1
Wigan - Leeds 6/1

Tie - Wigan 22/1
Tie - Tie 80/1

Tie - Leeds 20/1
Leeds - Wigan 7/1

Leeds - Tie 50/1
Leeds - Leeds 10/11


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"At least we've got the 2 points", seemed to be a fair and popular assessment of the game as Super League XI kicked off with a bit of whimper at Headingley.
The weather conditions did not help as both sides failed to complete an adequate number of sets early on and you just could not see the opening try being a length of the field job passing through 8 pairs of hands, it wasn’t. We were awarded a penalty, 10 metres out and 3 tackles later Kevin Sinfield managed to squeeze over, he duly converted, 6-0 to the Rhinos after 15 and we were off, weren’t we?

Not quite but another 15 minutes later it was 10-0 as Scott Donald scored his debut try powering over. Indeed he showed good strength later on, on a couple of occasions and looked better defensively than I had him down for. Five minutes later and it was 10-6 then just before the break Lee Smith got his first try of the season.


HT 14-6.


Leeds had the better of the early stages of the second half with Gareth Ellis almost getting on the score sheet on two occasions before Danny McGuire went over for the first of many on 55 after a cock up by Robbie Paul, 20-6 and it was game over or it should have been. On 60 minutes the Giants were incorrectly awarded a penalty try, their man had already crossed for the try but ref, Steve Ganson, gave the conversion in front of the posts at the same time incorrectly sin-binning Richard Mathers, that made the score 20-12 and nobody troubled the scorers after that.


FT 20-12


Verdict: Not a great performance on a poor pitch, the Rhinos looked slow on occasions but Tony Smith has already admitted that he has deliberately sent them into the season undercooked due to the length of the season after we tailed off last year.


Looking forward to Friday now at Wigan and an interesting confrontation with Calderwood and Lee Smith.