St Helens 10–8 Leeds Rhinos — Qualifying Semi-Final, 2007 Super League Finals Series
28 Sep 2007 · Knowsley Road, St Helens · Attendance: 12,064
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Qualifying Semi-Final, 2007 Super League finals series: St Helens 10–8 Leeds Rhinos, at Knowsley Road, St Helens on 28 Sep 2007.
Sourcing caveat: Individual try minutes were not confirmed across sources and are omitted rather than guessed at. Both lineups fetched cleanly with real, varied squad numbers rather than a position-order index — St Helens' Matty Smith at 21 (Halfback) and Chris Flannery at 30 (Second Row) in particular rule out a sequential renumbering artifact, and both cross-match exactly, unchanged, with this club's Grand Final appearance later in this round. Leeds' numbering here (Webb 1, Ablett 22 off the bench, Sinfield 13 at lock) likewise cross-matches exactly with this club's Elimination Final and Grand Final appearances. Coaches confirmed via web search: Daniel Anderson (St Helens, per Rugby League Project's page and consistent with this club's already-established 2008 coach) and Tony Smith (Leeds) — confirmed directly via the Leeds Rhinos official site's own head-coaches page, which lists his tenure as "November 2003 - October 2007," spanning this 28 September match and, narrowly, this round's later Elimination Final and Grand Final too, with Brian McClennan (the already-established 2008 coach) not starting until "November 2007."
Scorers
| St Helens | Tries: Pryce Goals: M. Smith (3/3 conversions) |
| Leeds Rhinos | Tries: L. Smith Goals: Sinfield (2/3 conversions) |
Team sheets
| St Helens | Leeds Rhinos | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Wellens | Fullback | Brent Webb | 1 |
| 2 | Ade Gardner | Wing | Scott Donald | 2 |
| 3 | Matthew Gidley | Centre | Clinton Toopi | 3 |
| 4 | Willie Talau | Centre | Keith Senior | 4 |
| 5 | Francis Meli | Wing | Lee Smith | 5 |
| 6 | Leon Pryce | Five-Eighth | Danny McGuire | 6 |
| 21 | Matty Smith | Halfback | Rob Burrow | 7 |
| 8 | Nick Fozzard | Prop | Kylie Leuluai | 8 |
| 9 | Keiron Cunningham | Hooker | Matt Diskin | 9 |
| 10 | Jason Cayless | Prop | Jamie Peacock | 10 |
| 11 | Lee Gilmour | Second Row | Jamie Jones-Buchanan | 11 |
| 30 | Chris Flannery | Second Row | Gareth Ellis | 12 |
| 12 | Jon Wilkin | Lock | Kevin Sinfield | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | James Roby | Ali Lauiti'iti | 14 | |
| 15 | Mike Bennett | Ian Kirke | 18 | |
| 17 | James Graham | Carl Ablett | 22 | |
| 22 | Paul Clough | Jordan Tansey | 23 | |
| Daniel Anderson | Coach | Tony Smith | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Ashley Klein |
Match report
St Helens beat Leeds Rhinos 10-8 at a sell-out Knowsley Road on 28 September 2007 in a tight, low-scoring Super League Qualifying Semi-Final, with Matty Smith's perfect 3/3 kicking proving decisive. The result meant League Leaders' Shield winners St Helens went straight to the Grand Final, while Leeds were forced into the Elimination Final route.