DERBY DAYS: RUGBY LEAGUE 2009 GRAND FINAL:AT THE same time as the Irish Wolfhounds were gaining plaudits for their performances at last year's Rugby League World Cup finals in Australia – which included a shock victory over Samoa thanks to three tries and five goals from winger Pat Richards – the England squad's contribution to the tournament was being roundly ridiculed.
The squads had travelled to the event on the same flight – the Irish at the back of the plane, the English in business class – but an early 52-4 demolition by the hosts in Melbourne brought the top league team in the Northern Hemisphere quickly back to earth. And, naturally, the blame game had kicked into gear – with the finger pointed at the apparent failure of the squad members to gel, and with the St Helens and Leeds Rhinos rivalry singled out for particular criticism.
The Saints defeated Wigan in the play-off semi-final last weekend, with the Warriors team containing Irish internationals Richards and Paul Prescott. The clash of the Merseyside and Greater Manchester clubs was a typical grudge match. Likewise, the Leeds Rhinos have a neighbourhood foe – the town next door providing the base for the Bradford Bulls. But Leeds and Helens appear to have outgrown local grudges, recently nurturing a rivalry that now gives their match-ups top billing. And, what it lacks in geography, it more than makes up for when the opposing players are in close proximity.
As rugby league is largely off the radar in Ireland (though Rugby League Ireland yesterday announced the appointment of a general manager, sponsorship and PR director, and two development officers to promote and administer the game across the country) it is, perhaps surprising that the professional game in Britain contains so many players with Irish blood – though admittedly few enough with the accents to match.
Last week Andy Kelly named his 28-member squad for the upcoming Rugby League European Cup, a six-nation tournament which will see Ireland take on Serbia in the opening game on Sunday week at Spollanstown in Tullamore.
Central to the hosts’ ambitions will be the inclusion for the first time of Luke Ambler, the young Leeds Rhinos prop qualifying to play for Ireland through the grandparent rule.
First on the agenda for the Ambler and the Rhinos is Saturday’s meeting with their biggest rivals.
While the it may have its roots in several Challenge Cup final meetings in the 1970s, the animosity between the two clubs, on and off the pitch, has only reached boiling point in recent seasons. And it has captured the imagination of the fans.
In last season’s Grand Final more than 68,000 paid into Old Trafford, with Leeds beating St Helens 24-16, despite the Saints having crushed the Rhinos 38-10 just a fortnight earlier.
Leeds became only the second team (after the Saints) to successfully defend their Super League crown, winning the previous year’s decider – this time in front of more than 71,000 spectators – and in so doing ending St Helens’ 100 per cent record in Grand Finals.
And the rivals have met three times already this year, the first in late March when the Saints won 26-18 at GPW Recruitment Stadium (better known as Knowsley Road) in a game marked by the kind of bone-crunching tackles that convinces league fans they choose better than union supporters.
“It’s got to a situation where the two teams really do want to beat each other – and do anything to beat each other,” said St Helens stand-off Leon Pryce. “There is genuine rivalry. At international level we did have problems because we did so poorly at the World Cup. But on a club level it’s great to have that real rivalry.”
The game was a dress-rehearsal for the fourth-round Challenge Cup meeting in front of 18,000 spectators at Headingley two weeks later, when the Saints put their three-year unbeaten record on the line. “You’ve got it in football with Liverpool and Man United, and it’s building up that way between us and Leeds,” Pryce said before the second match-up of the year, which the Saints claimed 22-18.
However, it was the Rhinos who grabbed the psychological edge by finishing the regular season at the top of the Super League table – four points ahead of the team they meet this weekend in the Grand Final – when they won their third encounter of the year, in a match that was constantly interrupted by off-the-ball hits, high tackles and general melees.
“You could see the passion in both teams and that was reflected in some of the other stuff that went on,” said St Helens coach Mick Potter (if you want to watch the final, brutal minutes it’s on www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcT5ZN2wN5Y).
Australian centre Matt Gidley said this week St Helens were determined to keep their cool on Saturday. “Both us and Leeds know discipline will have to be spot-on on Saturday night,” he said. “Our squads haven’t changed much in the last three or four years either, which adds to our rivalry, but there is nothing between the two teams. It is whoever can go out and play to their potential.”
Saturday, kick-off – 6pm
Old Trafford, Manchester
Live on Sky Sports 1
Leeds Rhinos v St Helens
