sport news St Helens 24-12 Leeds: Saints win a record-breaking fourth consecutive Super ... trends now
All hail ‘The Immortals’, a fitting tag for a St Helens side who are now undeniably the greatest in Super League history and must also be regarded as one of the best teams rugby league has seen.
An unprecedented fourth successive Grand Final win – inspired by man of the match and Harry Sunderland Trophy winner Jonny Lomax – etched Saints into the realms of true sporting greatness at Old Trafford.
Not even Manchester United in their all-conquering pomp under Sir Alex Ferguson won four league titles on the spin.
St Helens secured an unprecedented fourth successive Grand Final win on Saturday night
Fergie guided United to the championship three seasons running on two occasions during his glorious 26-year reign which saw United crowned champions 13 times.
But keeping the Premier League trophy under lock and key at this famous old ground for four consecutive seasons proved beyond even the legendary Scot.
Saints being Saints, though, have now managed that feat and showed why they are such a special team with this deserved victory over old adversaries Leeds.
Talisman such as James Roby, Lomax and half-back partner Jack Welsby knitted the champions together brilliantly throughout this title decider to give outgoing head coach Kristian Woolf a fairytale send-off in his final game.
Outgoing Saints head coach Kristian Woolf (L) enjoyed a fairytale send-off in his final game
Woolf is heading home to Australia to take up a coaching role at new NRL team the Dolphins and will bow out of St Helens as a legend.
The Rhinos, for their part, have enjoyed a stunning resurgence since Rohan Smith arrived at Headingley in May after previous head coach Richard Agar quit following a disastrous start to the season.
Laconic Aussie Smith stopped the rot, restored belief and guided the eight-time Super League champions to Old Trafford in front of a crowd of 60,783.
But in the end, spirit was not enough for Leeds as St Helens made their class pay, opening the scoring inside the second minute.
Leeds second-rower James Bentley, a close-season signing from St Helens with whom he won the 2020 Grand Final, caught England centre Mark Percival with a high shot.
Saints raced into a 12-0 lead through tries by Matty Lees (above) and Jon Bennison
From there, Saints marched upfield and Roby’s neat pass found the ubiquitous Lomax, who sauntered past Mikolaj Oledzki and
