#RugbyLeague Hats off to Leeds

You have to hand it to Leeds. When the chips are down and the pressure is on, is there a better team in the country?

All week prior to the Super League showpiece event I had favoured the Rhinos. I thought their general know-how and big game experience would see them through and so it proved.

To be honest this was one of the best Grand Finals, a tough, tense, tight encounter and I expect for Rhinos fans, completely makes up for missing out on lifting the Challenge Cup.

I know that Kevin Sinfield has his critics in the game and also for performances at international level but he is a superb captain, he marshalled his troops throughout and prompted and kicked well out of hand, despite being felled after one such kick with an almighty blow to the jaw. His 21 successive play-off goals points to nerves of steel and indeed he kicked five on the big Old Trafford stage. I have long been an admirer of his traits, his professionalism and suggest to the Headingley paymasters that if they are considering "making statues of them" to quote Brian McDermott then they look no further than Sinfield initially.

I thought that Carl Ablett would have got a lot closer to Sinfield in chasing man of the match. He played a varied centre/back row role and scored a crucial try in addition to having a hand in the clincher with the final movement and pass before Ryan Hall gleefully crossed at the corner.

Rob Burrow too was magnificent out of dummy half. Last season's Harry Sunderland trophy winner for me had far more control on his game and was more readily involved than his classy cameo from 2011 yet came nowhere near Leeds captain marvel in the end.

What of the losers Warrington?

They were brave, Ben Westwood played it tough and Richie Myler and Lee Briers never stopped while it was a fascinating confrontation in the centres between Ryan Atkins and Kallum Watkins and both Mickey Higham and Michael Monaghan. I also thought that Chris Hill did not disgrace himself and has certainly gone from strength to strength since stepping up from the Championship, but crucially for me Leeds had the edge.

The Wolves started the game superbly and deservedly edged the first fifteen minutes with Richie Myler spotting the slightest of gaps in Leeds line to cross for the opening try just a couple of minutes in with a combination of quick thinking and quick feet. Fullback Brett Hodgson converted but the Rhinos served notice of their danger when a long ball from Kevin Sinfield seemingly put Ryan Hall in at the corner, only to be ruled forward.

The sides swapped difficult hanging kicks with Ben Jones-Bishop being targeted by Warrington.

Leeds then steadied the ship and a towering kick from Sinfield was spilled under pressure by Joel Monaghan, allowing Carl Ablett the chance to step into an opening, twist in the tackle and offload for Sinfield, looping round to plant the ball over the line in the 18th minute and convert to level the match from an acute angle at six-all.

The next 15 minutes belonged to Leeds with Sinfield nudging the Rhinos in front with a 24th minute penalty and Jones-Bishop casting his earlier handling nerves aside to finish smartly on the right hand side for Sinfield to make it 14-6.

Similarly to their Elimination victory over St Helens, Warrington surged back in the last seven minutes of the half and gained momentum with quick play and when Leeds were split down the Wolves left side, clever link up work created space and numbers for Lee Briers to bullet a pass for right winger Joel Monaghan to claim his 22nd try of the season. Hodgson converted and was on hand to kick a penalty to level the game at 14-all on the stroke of half-time.

Early in the second half, Warrington enjoyed a greater share of field position and possession and Leeds saw skipper Sinfield felled after making a clearance kick, a clash of heads with Michael Monaghan putting the Leeds man on the floor. Somehow, Sinfield regained his feet and played himself back into the game. Clinically the Wolves took advantage of the confusion with Hodgson's smart work out of dummy half catching Leeds out and Ryan Atkins went one on one with Kallum Watkins and over the youngster to claim a try that put Warrington in front again.

Leeds kept their composure and laid on the pressure with only good defence holding the Rhinos at bay, but as the penalties began to stack up against Warrington, the Wolves reeled and Shaun Lunt spied the opportunity to dive forward out of dummy half and release the ball at the right time for Ablett to go over Briers to claim a crucial try with Sinfield again potting a difficult conversion to edge the Rhinos in front at 20-18.  

Warrington tried to come up with a telling play but handling errors broke their rhythm and Leeds countered superbly to score the clinching try eight minutes from time with some excellent passing and poise that eventually saw Ablett stand up Joel Monaghan long enough for Hall to skirt around the outside and Sinfield converted magnificently to secure a sixth title in nine years for the Rhinos.

RL Match Report: Wigan through to Super League Grand Final

Wigan won through to Old Trafford to play arch rivals St Helens for the Grand Final and Leeds boss Brian McClennan admitted that the Rhinos had "thrown the kitchen sink at them."

Pat Richards opened the scoring with a penalty after 14 minutes but Leeds struck right back when Martin Gleeson lost possesion in a Danny Buderus tackle, the ball moved right and Kevin Sinfield rounded Harrison Hansen to finish from thirty metres before converting.

Leeds defence was dominant and restricted Wigan to just thirty metres progress on their next possession. The Rhinos gained their first penalty after 22 minutes and tried to launch an attack only for Ian Kirke to spill the ball.

Wigan's kicking game continued to misfire which put Leeds on the front foot while in comparison the Rhinos varied things in the same area. Wigan lost the influential Sean O'Loughlin temporarily to injury and this didn't help their organisation.

Good thinking from the Rhinos nearly launched Ryan Hall but the pass from Brent Webb after Buderus worked the right side drifted forward.

Iefeta Paaleasina charged through the middle after 27 minutes but his offload did not find support and Leeds went within inches of claiming a try before being awarded a penalty for obstruction. Wigan kept their line intact with Gleeson sparking a counter attack. The ball came right to Darrell Goulding and he sped down the wing before kicking forward and appearing to knock on. The decision was referred up to the video referee but the score remained the same.

The game moved from end to end before Thomas Leuluai put a high kick for Richards which was spilled by Hall. Wigan drove to the line with Mike McIlorum held on the line and the Warriors moved play right again for Goulding to force his way over from a speculative Joel Tomkins offload. Richards converted and suddenly the Warriors were in front.

Richards tried a long range drop goal against a swirling breeze but the teams went in at half-time with Wigan leading 8-6.

At the start of the second half Paul Prescott went over the top of Chris Clarkson and Sam Tomkins almost broke before Paul Deacon launched a wonderful kick that saw Scott Donald fluff the ball allowing Joel Tomkins the opportunity to juggle and then place the ball down for his fourth try in five matches. Once again Richards converted and all of a sudden it was 14-6 to Wigan.

Another try followed quickly for Wigan when the ball came free from a McIlorum carry and George Carmont dabbed on and won the race to claim the score.

Leeds were backpedalling. It was 20-6 after just seven minutes of the second half and they were struggling to make metres as Wigan upped their defensive efforts.

The Rhinos needed inspiration and they gained possession and then a penalty thanks to Matt Diskin. In using the ball, Leeds came close to getting their first try of the second half only for Sam Tomkins to intervene.

With the Rhinos season on the line Keith Senior conceded a penalty due to back chat and Wigan went downfield again only to see Joel Tomkins penalised for a tackle on Rob Burrow.

Wigans defence held with Richards stopping Buderus but when equally solid tackling put Goulding into touch Leeds had another opportunity. The Warriors swarmed and continued to upset the Rhinos despite a superb break from Brett Delaney.

The Warriors continued to control the pace of the game despite Leeds efforts they were frustrated time and time again before Danny Buderus touched down after 76 minutes. Even this wasn't clear cut and went upstairs for video referee Ben Thaler to disallow the effort. This sparked mass celebrations at the Wigan end and when Leuluai was tackled high by Webb, the Warriors pushed the ball into the corner for Carmont, Harrison Hansen and Joel Tomkins to work the ball to Gleeson it sent Wigan to Old Trafford for the first time since 2003. Richards added his fifth goal to make it a 26-6 win.

Wigan boss Michael Maguire said "there's a great feeling in the camp and I'm very proud. In the fist half we werent getting the defence that we liked but in the second half the boys definitely came out and performed."

WIGAN 26 (Tries: Darrell Goulding, Joel Tomkins, George Carmont, Martin Gleeson. Goals: Pat Richards 5/5) defeated LEEDS 6 (Try: Kevin Sinfield, Goal: Kevin Sinfield 1/1.)

RL Comment: Clubcall

So the big day of the clubcall has arrived and I still can't help but think this is something of a gimmick, I don't know what anyone else thinks about it.

Every other team sport has a structure and this is unusual, however gimmick or not in my eyes, it does buy the RFL more media attention because it is different.

Last year it was Leeds that had the clubcall and they opted to play Catalans Dragons. This year, by virtue of being the highest placed winner on the league ladder after the first week of the play-offs, St Helens have the honour and the unusual step of being able to pick who they will play in the last ever first team game at Knowsley Road.

The teams they can pick from are arch nemesis Wigan, who defeated Hull KR 42-18 on Friday night or tough nut Huddersfield who accounted for Warrington 34-22.

Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown was already putting his troops on standby for a trip to St Helens, although he did say, "whoever we play now, they are both good teams."

This is true, should Saints opt to take on Wigan, it would pit Huddersfield against current Super League Champions Leeds.

So despite my personal thoughts on the issue, I guess we'll find out in a couple of hours who will play who, and the media will report accordingly.