It would be nice for contributors of this site to actually recognise the achievement of the Rhinos tonight.

Not only are they the reigning Super Leaugue champions and world Champions,but also the underdogs in a game against the multi award winning and talented Saints.

The victory tonight was even better than last year,because we were told that we would be beaten by every pundit worth his salt.

I would hope that Skyscraper contributors actually pay more than a bit of lip service to a team in Leeds that are truly champions.

Shame about LUFC today,but come on,the Rhinos ARE champions!!

Still no replies!!

Makes me wonder just how "Leeds" some people actually are.

Yes it is brilliant news that the Rhinos have won the Super League Grand Final. Congratulations to the Rhinos. :banana: :banana: :banana:

Just shows that there can be sporting success from the city of Leeds. LUFC watch and learn (although really they should hopefully go up this season despite the loss against Peterborough today) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/7642170.stm

Leeds retained their Super League crown and ruined Daniel Anderson's farewell game for St Helens by winning a rain-soaked Grand Final in Manchester.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45079000/jpg/_45079284_leedspa226.jpg
Leeds mob Danny McGuire after his second try at Old Trafford

Saints opened the scoring with a James Graham try but underdogs Leeds led 12-6 at the break thanks to touchdowns from Lee Smith and Ryan Hall.

Matt Gidley went over to draw the sides level at the start of the second half.

But two Danny McGuire tries ensured Ade Gardner's 31st touchdown of the season for Saints was to no avail.

St Helens, who had crushed the Rhinos 38-10 just a fortnight ago, broke the deadlock with a fantastic try inside six minutes - and Sean Long was the architect.

After being pinned back by Leeds in the opening exchanges, they carved through the Rhinos defence when Long set Lee Gilmour free with a well-timed inside pass around the halfway line.

Gilmour then swapped passes with Paul Wellens before offloading to newly-crowned Man of Steel Graham, who, with no-one in front of him just five yards from the line, had the simplest of tasks to score the first try of the night. 606: DEBATE
Lee Smith put in the best full-back performance I have ever seen in a Grand Final

InvernessStokie

Long stepped up to kick the conversion from just to the right of the posts to make it 6-0.

The Rhinos had looked the dominant side up until then and refused to be knocked out of their stride by the setback.

They continued to heap pressure on Saints, forcing them into a number of errors, before eventually drawing level on 24 minutes.

A great offload from the bandaged Jamie Jones-Buchanan, who just a few minutes had blood gushing from a wound high on his forehead after colloding with the knee of a team-mate, found stand-in full-back Smith, who brushed off several tackles to slide over on the left.

Leeds skipper Kevin Sinfield duly tied the scores with a tricky conversion.

Both sides were making handling errors in the wet conditions, but Saints looked uncharacteristically ruffled and disorganised.

It was from a penalty, conceded by Saints for not standing square at the play-the-ball, that Leeds eventually took the lead on 36 minutes.

Sinfield picked out Keith Senior with a long, floated pass, but the centre flicked it on to Hall rather than catch it himself.

Hall still had plenty of work to do to reach the line, but a clever kick took him past Willie Talau and allowed him to touch down by the right-hand corner flag.

Sinfield extended the lead by landing the conversion the ball going over via the left upright.

Leeds deserved their half-time lead, but, after a rollicking by Anderson, Saints began the second half with a bang.

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The Rhinos celebrate as the final hooter sounds at Old Trafford

A high kick by Long was patted back by Gardner for Gidley to power his way over, with Long curling home the conversion to tie the scores again.

Leeds were unfazed by the poor start following the interval and went ahead for a second time when Sinfield's deft kick off his weaker left foot split open the Saints defence and allowed McGuire to touch down under the posts.

With Sinfield adding the extras, Leeds once again had a six-point advantage with 50 minutes gone.

That lead was cut to just two points just eight minutes later when Gardner dived over in the right corner after taking James Roby's pass, with Long failing to add the extras.

But it was up to eight points when McGuire darted over for his second try of the night after a high Sinfield kick had caused mayhem in the Saints defence.

Francis Meli failed to collect it cleanly and McGuire shrugged off one tackle before sidestepping another defender to go over under the posts, making the conversion an easy one for Sinfield.

Any chance Saints had over hauling their way back into the game was thwarted by a series of errors and some resolute Leeds defending.

But the Rhinos deserved their win as they became only the second team - after Saints - to successfully defend their Super League title.

Smith walked off with the man-of-the-match award to put himself in the frame for an England call-up ahead of the World Cup

Yes it is brilliant news that the Rhinos have won the Super League Grand Final. Congratulations to the Rhinos. :banana: :banana: :banana:

Just shows that there can be sporting success from the city of Leeds. LUFC watch and learn (although really they should hopefully go up this season despite the loss against Peterborough today) http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/7642170.stm
Well thanks Val,who else is going to actually give credit where credits due to a team that are worthy and comprehensive victors that have beaten the Rugby (and im not including Union here) equivalent of Real Madrid or Man U.
/Liverpool.

LUFC will improve and get to the levels they deserve,without a doubt,but the Rhinos ARE champions of a mans game.:banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::lol::lol::cheers::cheers::nuts::nuts:

Congratulations Leeds. Good atmosphere in and around the stadium today too.

Still no replies!!

Makes me wonder just how "Leeds" some people actually are.

Well it's not the busiest of forums is it? so I'm not surprised there's only been a couple of replies!

This is great for the city, they played like heroes tonight. I really thought we would get a pasting but they got the tactics right and every last man played out of their skin!

Well done Rhinos!!!!

Well Done Leeds Rhinos.

Congratulations to Leeds Rhinos :)

*hides Hull KR membership card*

I was there, what an atmosphere.......they were fantastic.....well done Rhinos....worthy winners!!


:banana::banana::banana::banana:

Once again the Rhinos have brought some much-needed pride to the City of Leeds. Doing this whilst also being perceived as underdogs makes this victory particularly sweet.

Well done Rhinos and well done to all the fans who have given great support.

Rhinos, i was there last night, fantastic atmosphere, one of the best sport matches ive ever been to!!! Brilliant news for Leeds too!! :)

Fantastic display from the Rhinos. They had their tactics spot-on, but you still need to implement them which they did superbly. Smith got the plaudits and the MOM but I thought Sinfield was at the heart of the win with his consistently brilliant kicking.

The club are a credit to the city and I'm surprised the Rhinos didn't have an active (by the standards of this forum!) thread on here like LUFC do.

Terrific result. All the more so because St Helens seemed to have the magic touch this season just when it mattered, after a shaky start.
Back to back can't be bad. An end to the old tag of Leeds being the great under-achievers.
I touched my lucky Rhinos shirt but didn't watch the match live. An unfailingly successful combination.
Some good press coverage today.

PS. Carnegie going well too.

After four minutes I was a little worried, but they were awesome. Really awesome. Well done. The whole city should be proud.

And I'm not even a big rugby fan.

Still no replies!!

Makes me wonder just how "Leeds" some people actually are.

Come on cnosni. Nine minutes was a bit of a short time to get upset. Maybe some people were out celebrating. Maybe the thousands of Leeds fans at old Trafford hadn't got home and logged onto Skyscrapercity by 9:43 last night

:cheer::cheer: Well done Rhinos :cheer::cheer:

They've done it again, surely the best Rugby League team in the world at the moment. I was really pleased, going in as the underdogs but I knew they'd pull it out of the bag.

Yeah Great win for the Rhinos and leeds as well. How great was it to hear the chants "yorkshire" and "mighty Leeds" echoing around Old trafford!!!

On a negetive point tho, was it just me who thought th coverage before and after has been a bit biased towards St helens? It came across to me after the game as not being a "Great Win" for leeds, More of a "great Loss" for ST helens. Suppose that made the win even sweeter tho being the under dog!

Evidently, some people still don't think that Leeds deserves anything. Check out the Official Rugby League thread:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=26152044#post26152044

Come on cnosni. Nine minutes was a bit of a short time to get upset. Maybe some people were out celebrating. Maybe the thousands of Leeds fans at old Trafford hadn't got home and logged onto Skyscrapercity by 9:43 last night

Maybe so,but you were worried after 4 minutes at Old Trafford,and so was i!!

There was definitely a pall of despair in the Sky commentary box as it was evident that Leedds had done their job here to great effect.
Im sure if Saints are as good a side as they are then they should have been able to overcome an inferior team.
Clearly Lees are not an inferior team,in fact id say they are pretty even.
What it was down to was a combination of tactics and desire.
Whilst all the pundits were harping on about Saints determination to avenge the hiding,and yes it was a hiding,last year they forgot that Leeds had a fresher score to even,one that was fresher in the memory but just as painful,the smi final a fortnight ago.

All the talk was that Saints would have won on a dry surface,well maybe so,but as RL used to be a winter sport then where would they have been in years gone by.

The fact is that the grand final is played in October,which traditionally is a very wet month,so IF its true that Leeds have the advantage in the wet then they have planned for this event particularly well,which in my book means they are the best team.

"All the talk was that Saints would have won on a dry surface,well maybe so,but as RL used to be a winter sport then where would they have been in years gone by.

The fact is that the grand final is played in October,which traditionally is a very wet month,so IF its true that Leeds have the advantage in the wet then they have planned for this event particularly well,which in my book means they are the best team."

Totally agree! I didnt understand peoples comments either about the weather and it been at leeds advantage. St Helens are a british team, It rains in britain a lot. It shouldnt have been any disadvantage or advantage to either team.absoloute bollocks if you ask me and just a feeble excuse. like you say Leeds won cos they were the best team on the night, therefore leeds are the well deserved champoions!

Top effort Rhinos!!! I fully admit to being scpetical about their chances. The days of Leeds choking it in finals have long gone. Sounds like Saints might be gaining that unenviable title themselves.

Bring on Manly!!!

Yeah Great win for the Rhinos and leeds as well. How great was it to hear the chants "yorkshire" and "mighty Leeds" echoing around Old trafford!!!

On a negetive point tho, was it just me who thought th coverage before and after has been a bit biased towards St helens? It came across to me after the game as not being a "Great Win" for leeds, More of a "great Loss" for ST helens. Suppose that made the win even sweeter tho being the under dog!

You're correct. See today's Guardian article. Damning Leeds with faint praise indeed. A catalogue of ifs buts and maybes for St Helens. If only they hadn't had a week off, if only it hadn't rained, if only we had an Australian semi final system etc.:lol:

Wet surface??? Was it only raining on the saint's players?

You're correct. See today's Guardian article. Damning Leeds with faint praise indeed. A catalogue of ifs buts and maybes for St Helens. If only they hadn't had a week off, if only it hadn't rained, if only we had an Australian semi final system etc.:lol:

Its been like it all season to be honest.Im not exactly sure where it all stems from,i cant think of anything the Rhinos have done in particular.

One thing i have noticed is the superlatives that were dished out to Wigan in July when the won 23-22 by Stevo,lading the cherry and whites,yet when Leeds beat Wigan in the play off 18-16 all we got was a monotone teeth gritted nod and Phil Clarke going on about whats wrong with Wigan.

Im beginning to sound like i think they all hate us,same as LUFC.

"All the talk was that Saints would have won on a dry surface,well maybe so,but as RL used to be a winter sport then where would they have been in years gone by.

The fact is that the grand final is played in October,which traditionally is a very wet month,so IF its true that Leeds have the advantage in the wet then they have planned for this event particularly well,which in my book means they are the best team."

Totally agree! I didnt understand peoples comments either about the weather and it been at leeds advantage. St Helens are a british team, It rains in britain a lot. It shouldnt have been any disadvantage or advantage to either team.absoloute bollocks if you ask me and just a feeble excuse. like you say Leeds won cos they were the best team on the night, therefore leeds are the well deserved champoions!

By the way,it wasnt raining at the 2007 grandfinal,when we hammered them 33-6,so perhaps its Leeds that was hindered by the weather,their score should have been bigger.

Also the first Saints try this year had ay least one,if not two forward passes.

At least Daniel Anderson,who was a little upset during half time,was quite complemtary on Leeds tactics:-

Outgoing St Helens coach Daniel Anderson offered no excuses after Leeds Rhinos ruined his farewell with a 24-16 win in the engage Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford.

The Australian is leaving the club after a golden three-and-a-half-year spell that has seen him lift nine trophies, but despite their tag as favourites going into the game, his side were unable to send him off with a 10th.

"We were off the pace in the first half," he admitted afterwards. "I thought we missed a lot of tackles. Leeds got the opportunity to build pressure and they took advantage of it with a couple of tries.

"In the second half we struck back, but Leeds responded every time. It's a desperately disappointed dressing room, but we've had some wins, we've had some losses and you've got to suck in both sides.

"I didn't think we were honest with our capabilities in the first half, I thought we didn't play anywhere near the standards we had set.

"I thought we really battled hard in the second half but when we felt that we were getting our teeth into the game it didn't happen for us.

"They broke tackles and they won the ruck and in the first half, the amount of times Sean Long had to pass the ball because he had three or four men coming at him, that was significant.

"That was a marker put in the sand by Leeds which meant that we were kicking off the back foot constantly in the first half. Leeds did it better than us the whole game."

But despite leaving on a sour note, Anderson, who is still awaiting a job offer in Australia's NRL, was adamant that his stay in England has not been tarnished by this result.

"I have enjoyed my time," he said. "I have enjoyed the company of the people that I have met over here, I've enjoyed the company of the players especially.

"They are fantastic rugby league players and very good men to boot. It's been a privilege for me to be at St Helens.

"I will have a drink or two with a couple of the boys tonight and a lot of people that I have met in St Helens and enjoy my last few days."

Still no replies!!

Makes me wonder just how "Leeds" some people actually are.

I'd of prefered a win at Peterborough than Rhino's winning, put it that way. I did make the trip to Old Trafford as 2 of my mates wanted to goto the game, I despise Rugby so I watched the Blackburn match in some pub called the Trafford or something.

I read the Guardian on Monday and listened to the Sky commentary during the match. I didn't think either were particulalry negative about the Rhinos win. In fact, during the second half, I thought Sky called it very well and waxed quite lyrically at times about the display. I don't think they could have done anything else, as even a muppet could see that the Rhinos were dismantling Saints. During the first half there was some telling analysis after about 35 minutes about the fact that the Rhinos had restricted them to only two or three phases of possession in our half, whereas they would regularly expect about eight or ten (against mortal teams).

The Guardian report was interesting, in that the main piece didn't really cover the game, which was something of a footnote in the coverage. They may have had a valid point that the play-off process did leave Saints rusty, but, if you're supposedly the best rugby team (by a supposedly large margin), then a few days' rest shouldn't harm you. Perhaps they believed the hype, which was, frankly, stupid, since they won the regular season by a mere point.

It's interesting to see you ardent fans getting the hump with the coverage, when I thought it was quite balanced. I've usually got a serious siege mentality about all things Leeds (Thessalonika '73, Munich '75, -15, terrorism, racism, Miralles' roof, Hale & Pace...), but the negative element here has passed me by. I've not taken much notice of prior coverage about the Rhinos this season, but it looks like it's built up all season for many of you. Just enjoy it. Don't let the bastards ruin it. Rub their noses in it. Your team are Champions, not theirs.

And remember, you can only win the competition you're in: if the competition ends with a Grand Final, you have to win the Grand Final; no point wingeing about being real champions, if you lose the championship match.

Long may it rain, long may Rhinos reign.

Let's see LUFC catch the habit now (after losing to Rotherham tonight).

UNITED BACK WORLD CHALLENGE

06 Jan 2009
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United squad supporting Rhinos quest for glory...

After watching Leeds Rhinos win the engage Super League Grand Final last October Leeds United star Jonathan Douglas is relishing the opportunity to see the champions play at Elland Road in the upcoming Carnegie World Club Challenge.

The World title match on Sunday March 1 sees the Rhinos take on NRL Telstra winners Manly Sea Eagles at the home of Leeds United Football Club, and should the Rhinos win then they will become the first team in the 33 year history of the competition to win back-to-back titles.

Midfielder Dougie said: "I was at Old Trafford in October on that rainy night cheering on the Rhinos to victory. It was a fantastic occasion and one that made you feel proud to be part of this city.

"A few of the lads at Leeds United are big Rhinos fans and we'll be there on 1 March at Elland Road to see them play the Aussie champions.

"Hopefully the city will turn out in force to support Leeds in this World title match, it will be a spectacular event and one I'm sure many Leeds United fans will turn up to see."

Should Leeds win back-to-back World titles then they are going to have to do it the hard way. Manly Sea Eagles claimed the Australian title by beating last year's Carnegie World Club Challenge beaten finalists Melbourne Storm 40-0.

However, the Rhinos have an excellent record at Elland Road, having won two World titles there in the last three years.

As with previous years, a big crowd is expected for the clash between the best two club sides in the world.

Tickets start from just £20 for adults and £10 for concessions, whilst families can save money by purchasing a £40 family ticket for two adults and two children.

Leeds United supporters can purchase their Carnegie World Club Challenge tickets from the Elland Road ticket office for the match which kicks off at 6pm.

To purchase tickets from the RFL Ticket Office please visit www.rugbyleaguetickets.co.uk or call 0871 226 13 13. Leeds United website

Argh, I have made a schoolboy error and am going skiing for a week the previous day. Absolutely gutted. :ohno:

Hope the weather conditions are a little better than last years monsoon!