ST HELENS coach Daniel Anderson believes his side were good value for their 26-12 win over champions Leeds which cut their lead at the top of the engage Super League to just two points.
Only eight points separated the sides when the Rhinos were reduced to 12 men on 53 minutes following the dismissal of forward Nick Scruton for a “spear” tackle on Keiron Cunningham but Anderson did not feel it was a turning point.
“The sending-off may detract a little from our performance but I thought we were fantastic up to that point and I thought we were exceptional after it,” he said.
“I know Nick Scruton is not malicious but it was a sending-off offence.
“It was a dangerous throw and I don’t think he can argue with the decision.”
Scruton is likely to be handed a suspension when he appears before the Rugby League disciplinary panel on Tuesday, which could further weaken Leeds as they seek to avoid a third successive defeat when they take on Castleford next Saturday without their England contingent.
“I’ve seen some of those tackles put on report,” said Leeds coach Brian McClennan. “He’s very remorseful, he’s a good young kid.”
Leeds also have an injury worry over Carl Ablett while St Helens stand-off Leon Pryce is a doubt for England’s game against France in Toulouse next Friday after going off with a thigh injury.
“It’s a nasty corked thigh,” said Anderson.
“He’s in doubt because it’s something that doesn’t have a finite recovery period.
“The chances are that he’ll be right. He does have a quadricep injury but I’ll leave (England coach) Tony Smith and his medical staff to check on it.”
St Helens’s victory, achieved by the convincing margin of five tries to two, gave them revenge for their Grand Final mauling as well as their home defeat earlier this year and will also encourage them as they look ahead to next month’s Challenge Cup semi-final against the champions.
They led 10-6 at half-time thanks to tries from front-row forwards Maurie Fa’asavalu and Bryn Hargreaves. Two tries in the third quarter from winger Francis Meli stretched their advantage and Pryce clinched victory 12 minutes from the end.
“It’s a sweet taste and it’s my first win over Bluey (Brian McClennan) too,” added Anderson.
“I thought it was a very controlled professional performance.
“It will give confidence to the rest of the competition because it shows that Leeds can be beaten. You have to be good on the day and we were extremely good.”
Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield had earlier levelled the scores with an opportunist try, which extended his scoring run to 63 matches, and winger Scott Donald’s 18th try of the season midway through the second half briefly gave the home side hope.
Leeds have now lost back-to-back matches for the first time for 11 months but McClennan believes his side’s performance was an improvement on their recent displays.
