Previews

Rhinos aim for three in a row

Author: John Harris
Date: 11/10/2009
Rugby League betting

Old Trafford is the place to be on Saturday evening when Leeds Rhinos take on St Helens in rugby league's Grand Final.

It is the third successive year that the two teams will have met for the right to claim the sought-after trophy.

They have dominated the sport since the first Grand Final was staged in 1998 with Saints emerging victorious on four occasions while the Rhinos have been triumphant in three of the last five seasons.

The only other teams to have tasted success in the last 12 years were Wigan Warriors, who beat Leeds 10-4 in the 1998 Final and Bradford Bulls who won three times between 2001 and 2005.

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However, it is Leeds that have taken on the mantle of Europe's best rugby league club in the last three years, beating Saints 33-6 in the 2007 Grand Final before edging past the same opponents 24-16, 12 months ago.

Leeds and St Helens once again filled the top-two spots in the regular season but, before the play-offs started three weeks ago, there were hopes that the likes of Wigan Warriors, Huddersfield Giants and Hull KR would offer a major challenge.

Although the Warriors pushed Saints hard last weekend, and Catalans Dragons beat Wakefield Trinity Wildcats and Huddersfield Giants before being edged out by Leeds at Headingley, it is once again the big two who will be contesting Saturday evening's showpiece.

Scrum-half Sean Long will be playing his last game for the Saints as he brings to an end his glittering 12-year career at Knowsley Road.

Long has agreed to join Hull FC for next season, and it is certain to be an emotional evening at Old Trafford for one of the last decade's best players.

Apart from Leeds' long-term injured hooker Danny Buderus, both teams will be at full strength for the big game.

When the two sides last met in September, Leeds' Keith Senior was sin-binned for punching St Helens forward Jon Wilkin in the closing stages of a fiery encounter so there may well be some fireworks come six o'clock on Saturday.

It seems certain to be a close and hard-fought encounter as it always is when these two giants of rugby league meet, but most online sports betting odds tip Leeds to make it three title in a row.

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