St Helens sink Leeds to win record fourth consecutive Grand Final

There can now surely be no doubting the matter. For the first time in Super League history – and only the second since rugby league was founded in 1895 – a team has won four consecutive league titles. In the early-1990s it was Wigan Warriors who swept all before them but this time it is St Helens, who in the process of a deserved Grand Final victory against Leeds, perhaps finally secured their status as the greatest team to pick up a rugby league ball.

It is a bold claim. But then this is no ordinary team we are talking about. There are no shortage of compliments you can pay this side, who have now swept all-comers aside for four successive years.

You always felt it was going to take something special to stop a Leeds side who had won 10 of their last 11 games to reach Old Trafford but this St Helens team is exactly that though: special.

The Rhinos offered plenty of resistance, not least in an engrossing first half that saw the Saints lead by only six at half-time. But after the break, just as they have done so often, they turned the screw in the ruthless, machine-like fashion they have become renowned for and by the end, there was very little doubt left about both the outcome and where this team ranks among the pantheon of the sport’s best.

The reigning champions began in ominous fashion. The opening try did not take long to arrive as Jonny Lomax dummied through the Leeds line before offering Matty Lees a free run to break the deadlock. Timed at just over two minutes, it was the quickest try in Grand Final history. Tommy Makinson converted and as the midway point of the half approached, Saints began to up the ante once again.

Just like the opener, it felt somewhat of an inevitability when they doubled their lead. The