Smith Kick Helps Saints Defy Leeds Onslaught to Secure Final Place

St Helens took the direct route to Old Trafford for the second year in a row and they will need every bit of the fortnight they now have to prepare for the grand final to recover from this utterly compelling war of attrition.

The champions spent most of the second half of last night's qualifying semi-final defending their own line but somehow prevented Leeds adding to the single breakaway try they had scored in the sixth minute, ensuring that a 64th-minute penalty by the young scrum-half Matty Smith was the decider.

Their resilience was best summed up by the sight of Matt Gidley, the Australian centre who was wearing strapping around his face after suffering a gash under his eye early in the match, racing across the field to pull off a flying, try-saving and match-winning tackle on Leeds's Brent Webb.

"It was a massive tackle because he had to come from one side of the field to the other to make it," reflected the Saints coach, Daniel Anderson. "But I can't fault a player from either side after that. They had us on the rack for a good 20-minute spell in the second half and you have to be mentally so strong to hang in there when both teams are going at each other like that."

Poor Leeds somehow have to recover from this huge effort in time for their second chance to reach the grand final next Friday, at home to the winners of tonight's game between Hull and Wigan. "They'll be fine," their coach, Tony Smith, said of his players. But how St Helens will appreciate the luxury of their weekend off, which must now make them strong favorites to complete their second consecutive league and cup double - especially as they have won on all four of their previous Old Trafford grand final appearances.

Smith's crucial penalty was simple enough after the otherwise outstanding Leeds prop Jamie Peacock had caught his opposite number Nick Fozzard a little high 30 metres from his own line. But the 20...#8209;year...#8209;old, a former Everton football trainee who received a late call-up on Thursday when Sean Long failed a fitness test on his hamstring injury, still needed a cool nerve to maintain his 100% kicking record, after converting Leon Pryce's sparkling individual try and adding a first penalty to give Saints an 8-6 half-time lead.

Smith had not played since hurting his neck in the build-up to the Challenge Cup final in late August but slotted in impressively to stake a strong claim for a place at Old Trafford whether or not Long is finally fit. "He's done tremendously well," added Anderson. "He's been coming up trumps for us all year and I wouldn't have any hesitation in using him for the grand final."

Lee Smith had given Leeds a sixth-minute lead and it came completely against the run of play after Saints had dominated the opening exchanges. Leeds's defence stood up impressively to the battering with Matt Diskin pulling off an outstanding tackle on Jason Cayless and they gained reward when Smith intercepted Jon Wilkin's pass to Willie Talau and burned off the champions' cover in a 90-metre touchline sprint.

Kevin Sinfield curled over a tricky conversion but missed a simpler chance to put the Rhinos 8-0 up when Fozzard was penalized in possession for leading with his elbow. How crucial that miss was to prove in the final analysis.

However, Leeds also squandered a few try-scoring chances when they had Saints on the back foot in the second half. They could do little about the unflustered brilliance of Paul Wellens, who managed to touch down a dangerous ball in his own in-goal area fractionally before the Rhinos substitute Jordan Tansey claimed a try, but Carl Ablett then pushed a pass that was never on to let Saints off the hook and Rob Burrow's drop-goal attempt bounced back off an upright.

It was that sort of night, decided by inches, and if these two sides do meet again at Old Trafford in a fortnight, few outside Hull or Wigan would be disappointed.

St Helens Wellens; Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli; Pryce, M Smith; Fozzard, Cunningham, Cayless, Gilmour, Flannery, Wilkin. Interchange Roby, Bennett, Graham, Clough.

Leeds Rhinos Webb; Donald, Toopi, Senior, L Smith; McGuire, Burrow; Leuluai, Diskin, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ellis, Sinfield. Interchange Lauitiiti, Kirke, Ablett, Tansey.

Referee A Klein (Silsden).