Leeds stun St Helens as last-gasp drop goal settles Super League thriller

Blake Austin punctured St Helens’ celebratory homecoming with a drop goal in the dying seconds to earn Leeds a dramatic 25-24 victory at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

Less than two weeks after Lewis Dodd served up a similarly stunning finale to clinch the World Club Challenge Down Under, the hosts got a taste of their own medicine in a game that also saw Konrad Hurrell sent off late on.

Their win earned the Rhinos their first Betfred Super League points of the season and snapped a 12-game losing streak against the Saints that stretched back to 2018.

Rohan Smith’s side produced a vastly improved display to stay in touch with the title favourites then rode their luck in the second half as Tommy Makinson missed a simple penalty to give his side a three-score lead, and also had a try ruled out by the video referee.

Saints, who paraded their latest trophy to a sold-out home arena, were twice reduced to 12 men through the sin-binning of Sione Mata’utia and Curtis Sironen, and ultimately their indiscipline cost them their chance to build on last week’s win at Castleford.

The Rhinos exploited their first numerical advantage in a slick length-of-the-field move that saw Nene Macdonald bursting over the halfway line and offloading to Richie Myler, whose neat pass wrong-footed Jonny Lomax and sent Ash Handley over for the opening score.

Rhyse Martin duly kicked his first two of what would prove a personal 16-point haul, but Leeds’ hopes of extending their lead were dashed inside the quarter-hour when they were penalised for offside deep in their own territory and Joey Lussick burrowed over from the play-the-ball.

No sooner had Mata’utia returned than Saints stretched ahead, capitalising again on a penalty to go over through Lewis