Leeds Rhinos coach Rohan Smith pledges 'belief and confidence' for Challenge Cup rematch v St Helens

The teams meet again at AMT Headingley seven days after Saints’ 18-8 win there in a tense Betfred Super League clash. Rhinos are set to field a stronger side this time, with centre Paul Momirovski and prop Sam Lisone both back in their initial 21, but the omens are against the home side.

Only Harry Newman and James Donaldson could back up from a 78-6 defeat of Workington Town on April 12, 2019, which was the last time Leeds won a Challenge Cup tie at home, or in front of fans. Their most recent victory in the competition was against Salford Red Devils in the 2020 final and since then they have fallen at the first hurdle to Saints, Castleford Tigers and Wigan Warriors.

Their record against Saints is equally poor, with just one win in the last 16 encounters and no victories at Headingley since 2017, but Smith reckons last week showed there’s not much between the teams. Leeds led 8-0 in the first half and Smith said: “Any win keeps us in the competition, that’s number one. In the end, we don’t care how it comes - we want to find a way to win.

“This will be a different game, it won’t be a replay of last week, that’s for sure. Last year we played three really hard, tough games against St Helens that could have gone either way - they were all one score in it. Last weekend it was a 10-point margin, but it was an extremely close game that could have gone either way. There’s a lot of good match-ups there, we play well against each other and they are generally good games. It is an exciting opportunity to go again. We know we have to be good to win, you don’t beat St Helens otherwise.”

Saints are also close to full-strength and will be buoyed by their comeback in the league meeting. Smith admitted: “They are a very good team; they played very well when they needed to to beat us, but I think we can take some belief and confidence out of how we played and how we attacked the game.

“We’ve got a new spine that have played four games together - or five if you include the one Lachie Miller didn’t play - and we are against a team with a lot of on-field and club experience together. We are growing and evolving and learning and I think we’ve shown good signs of playing some good footy in a short period of time.

"It was a high standard of game last week and we can take some confidence out of that, but it’ll be a different game this time against some familiar structures and individuals. No two games are the same so we are looking to start again and adjust to any tweaks they make and make a few of our own.”

Of whether Rhinos will try to take Saints by surprise in the tie which will be streamed by the BBC, Smith added: “It is always good to have some differences and something up your sleeve that’s a bit different to last time, but mostly your identity as a team is not going to shift in a week. It is about adjusting to some things on the run.

“There may be some different personnel, but we feel like we are building a good template on both sides of the ball to take into each week and subtly adjusting that depending on who we are playing.”