It was generally felt that on paper the two outstanding teams this season are Leeds and St Helens, so this game was looked upon as one of particular interest. This was also clear from the attitude of both teams on the field. Instead of the usual wide-open styles, both sets of players made defence their prime object. Leeds started with a ferocious attack, but the St Helens defence proved capable of holding out all that Leeds could throw at them. After 9 minutes a beautifully weighted kick from Kevin Sinfield saw newcomer 19 year old Danny Williams on the wing outpace the St Helens cover to take the ball and apparently score. Unfortunately the TV playback showed him to be about a foot off-side and the score was not allowed.

Both teams seemed close to scoring but it was after 23 minutes that Mathers kicked for the St Helens right corner and Danny Williams again showing incredible pace for a youngster out-ran the defenders and scored. Sinfield could not convert. Once again power play became the order of the day with the Saints slightly edging the arm-wrestle until two minutes before half time Anderson broke the Leeds line to send in Gilmour near the posts. Long converted. At half time the score was 6 – 4.

The second half saw the Saints pack slowly become dominant. Behind it Leon Price, formerly of the Bulls now playing stand off for Saints and revelling in the space being created for him by their big forwards, constantly drove Leeds back. Afterwards the Saints manager described the game as brutal and there was no doubt that no quarter was given. However on occasions Saints went overboard and both Sculthorpe and James Graham of Saints were put on report and each was banned for one match. Eventually Leeds cracked in the 55th minute when Meli scored and the final score was Saints 13 – Leeds 4.

In the following week Leeds were home to Castleford on the Friday night. Due to frost the game was postponed to Sunday afternoon. According to the Leeds coach Tony Smith, the players became totally frustrated. In his words they were ‘prowling around like caged Tigers’. When they finally got on the pitch they exploded into action. The final score was Leeds 66 – Castleford 10.