SL preview: Leeds v St Helens (Fri)
Leeds head coach Brian McDermott has named an unchanged squad from last week’s 40-20 defeat to Warrington.
Opposing head coach Nathan Brown makes one change to the St Helens squad, with Joe Greenwood coming in for Anthony Walker.
Leeds 19-man squad:
Hardaker, Jones-Bishop, Watkins, Moon, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Delaney, Bailey, Kirke, Clarkson, Achurch, Singleton, Sutcliffe.
St Helens 19-man squad:
Wellens, Turner, Soliola, Meli, Hohaia, Lomax, Roby, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Puletua, Wilkin, Manu, Laffranchi, Clough, Jones, Makinson, Greenwood, Walmsley, Swift, Howarth.
Previous play-off meetings:
Leeds 32, St Helens 16 (SLGF, 8/10/11)
(at Old Trafford, Manchester)
Leeds 18, St Helens 10 (SLGF, 10/10/09)
(at Old Trafford, Manchester)
Leeds 24, St Helens 16 (SLGF, 4/10/08)
(at Old Trafford, Manchester)
St Helens 38, Leeds 10 (SLQSF, 19/9/08)
Leeds 33, St Helens 6 (SLGF, 13/10/07)
(at Old Trafford, Manchester)
St Helens 10, Leeds 8 (SLQSF, 28/9/07)
St Helens 16, Leeds 19 (SLQSF, 30/9/05)
St Helens 38, Leeds 30 (SLEPO, 22/9/01)
St Helens 38, Leeds 14 (SLQPO, 17/9/99)
Leeds 44, St Helens 16 (SLFE, 18/10/98)
Super League summary:
Leeds won 24 (includes wins in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 Grand Finals; 1998 and 2005 play-offs)
St Helens won 28 (includes wins in 1999, 2001, 2007 and 2008 play-offs)
Leeds highest score: 74-16 (H, 2001) (Widest margin: 70-0, H, 2004)
St Helens highest score: 62-18 (H, 1999) (Widest margin: 56-10, H, 2004)
Numbers:
1 – Ryan Hall needs one try to draw level with Keiron Cunningham (138) in tenth place in the list of all-time leading tryscorers.
3 – St Helens have won on their last three visits to Headingley, with the Rhinos’ last home win against the Saints coming 28-24 on 3 July, 2010.
14 – Kevin Sinfield needs 14 points to draw level with Cyril Kellett in fifth place in the list of all-time leading pointscorers.
15 – Kevin Sinfield has scored points in fifteen consecutive games against St Helens, a streak which started in the 2008 Super League Grand Final. He last failed to score in the 2008 Qualifying Semi-Final at Knowsley Road, where he missed his one goal attempt in a 38-10 defeat.
100 – Kallum Watkins needs one more appearance for a total of 100 in his career.
150 – Francis Meli needs one try to reach 150 whilst in the British game. Meli has touched down 145 times for St Helens since 2006, to go with 4 tries for The Exiles (2011-2012).
250 – Danny McGuire needs two tries to reach 250 for his career. McGuire has touched down 230 times for Leeds since 2001, and has also scored representative tries for Great Britain (5 Test & 2 Non-Test, 2004 & 2006-2007), England (4, 2008-2009), England ‘A’ (2, 2002-2003) and England Under-21s (5, 2001). As well as tries scored, McGuire has kicked one goal for Great Britain (2006 Tri-Nations, against New Zealand) and three field goals for Leeds, leaving him needing three points for a career total of 1,000.
300 – Kylie Leuluai needs one more appearance for a total of 300 in his career.
500 – Francis Meli is 12 points away from 500 (488 for St Helens, 2006-2013)
1000 – Paul Wellens needs one point to reach 1,000 for his career. Wellens has scored 953 points (218 tries, 40 goals, 1 field goal) for St Helens since 1998. He has also scored points for Great Britain (18 – 4 tries, 1 goal), England (16 – 4 tries) and Lancashire (12 – 3 tries).
