Leeds Rhinos Long Hot Summer
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Our victory over St Helens by 28 points to 24 at the beginning of July means that we have now beaten all the likely Grand Final challengers this year, which bodes well for a serious tilt at a fourth consecutive Super League title even from third or fourth place in the regular season. But an earlier priority is the re-match with Saints, this time with a place at Wembley at stake, when we two meet again in the Challenge Cup semi-final in Huddersfield (7th August).
Both teams should be strengthened by returnees from lengthy injury lists, and if the game is half as exciting as our 2003 extra-time win at the same stage over the same opponents on the same ground, then we’ll be in for a real treat. I hope those in blue and amber who gave up and left the stadium when Saints took the lead just before the end of normal time are still suitably embarrassed.
Our heroes that day were Danny Maguire with his tries in the corner and Kevin Sinfield with his touchline conversions; seven years on, they are still doing the business. Of course we went on to lose that Challenge Cup final to Bradford who, hard though it is to believe it now, were quite a successful team back then. Maybe their demise was brought about by Jamie Peacock coming home to Leeds? It’s a nice thought.
In the four Super League games before the Cup semi-final let’s hope we don’t repeat the disappointingly flat performance that we put in against Crusaders, whose recent win at Headingley might have done us a favour by warning against complacency. First-up is a home clash with Huddersfield (16th July) and a visit to Salford (25th July).
July ends with a mouth-watering home game against table-toppers Wigan (30th July), the team we beat in the Cup quarter-final back in May. It could turn out to be the perfect warm-up for that clash with Saints. And remember, if we’re losing with a couple of minutes to go: don’t leave, because anything could happen.
Posted on Thursday 15th July 2010
Tony Harcup
Leeds Rhinos
Headingley Carnegie Stadium, St Michael's Lane, Leeds, LS6 3BR
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