Rugby League: Pryce reveals milestone turns into millstone

Oct 15 2007 by Nick Smith, Liverpool Daily Post

RECORD-BREAKER Leon Pryce was in no mood to celebrate any milestones after St Helens were thrashed by Leeds Rhinos on Saturday.

Despite only turning 26 last week, Pryce has already appeared in seven of the 10 Super League Grand Finals, winning four and now, following the 33-6 defeat, losing three.

But after missing out on a trophy for the first time since he switched from Bradford following their Old Trafford triumph in 2005, Pryce revealed the hurt in the St Helens camp that their efforts to complete a grand slam of trophies in 2007 all boiled down to one disastrous second half. After going in 8-6 down, they conceded 25 points in the second 40 minutes and scored none in reply.

“This is a bad one,” said Pryce, who was on the losing Bradford sides against Saints in 1999 and 2002.

“We’ve put our bodies on the line all year and to come up with that is all we’re going to be remembered for. So it’s hard to take, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

“They got a lot of momentum with those two quick tries and from then on we were chasing and in big games and finals you can’t afford to be doing that because the team just makes mistakes.

“But they took their opportunities and to be fair to them, they didn’t look like they were going to lose after that.

“We were surprised but you have to give credit to Leeds where it’s due. They definitely deserved to win.”

In the build-up to the Grand Final, stand-off Pryce admitted following brother Karl to rugby union remained one of his long-term ambitions but also said he was keen to extend his stay at St Helens.

However, Pryce admitted he has to wait for the disappointment to subside before he or his team-mates could start thinking about bouncing back to reclaim their place at the top of domestic rugby league next season.

He added: “You’ve just got to see this year out and it will be a couple of days at least before we think about next year.

“It’s been a damn hard year and very tough but we have to put it behind us and move on.”

Sean Long offered no excuses.

Mercurial scrum-half Long started the game despite making only two appearances in the last two months, but after starting superbly and creating a try for James Roby, he faded badly.

“I don’t think that fitness was a problem,” he said. “ I didn’t feel any effects or anything. I felt okay and I felt fine. I just thought Leeds played really well.

“Of course, we’re disappointed. We thought at half-time we were still in contention and we started the second half okay as well. But Leeds soaked up all the pressure and they had the character to soak it up. They played really well.”

After Roby and Brent Webb had traded tries, Leeds led 8-6 at the interval, only for a quick-fire double from Ali Lauitiiti and Scott Donald to put the game to bed.