St Helens 42 Leeds Rhinos 12: One sent-off and two sin-binned as positives are undone by visitors' shambolic finish to Super League clash

Rhinos battled hard for most of the match, but let themselves down in the final quarter when they had Bodene Thompson (tripping) and - inevitably - James Bentley (professional foul) sin-binned either side of a red card for Zane Tetevano.

The substitute forward was dismissed for cleaning out former teammate Konrad Hurrell. It was the second sending off of his Rhinos career’ both away to Saints.

Rhinos trailed ‘only' 26-12 when Thompson was sent to the naughty step and up to then there had been some encouraging aspects for Leeds.

Saints were below full-strength and scored eight tries to Leeds’ two, but three of those came when Rhinos were at least a man down.

Rhinos reacted well after going 12-0 behind early on and were only eight points behind late in the third quarter.

Leeds rarely threatened in the second half, but their defensive scramble was good for long parts and the ball movement in possession was excellent at times in the first 40.

They kept battling and there were some good individual performances. Harry Newman, in the first half, was outstanding, scoring a brilliant try, though his anger at the officials late on might have repercussions.

The bottom line though, is it was a hammering which emphasised how far Leeds are behind the top team in the game.

The gap is not closing and it never will if Leeds don’t learn to keep their emotions in check. It was Bentley’s fourth card of the season, which is ridiculous.

Hurrell had opened the scoring after eight minutes, almost all of which had been Saints pressure. He slid over past Ash Handley and Martin.

A couple of minutes later, Handley intercepted from Hurrell 20 metres out, or more accurately had the ball chucked at him.

Rhinos then produced their best passage of rugby since about 2005 - the ball being kept alive through multiple pairs of hands, most particularly Newman, David Fusitu’a and Mikolaj Oledzki, before Martin was pulled down 10 metres short of what would have been a sensational try.

They failed to get anything from the attack, despite a penalty and drop-out and conceded again, to Alex Walmsley who crossed off Knowles’ clever offload, after Thompson and Hardaker had somehow managed to keep Makinson out.

The try Rhinos scored was a special effort. Blake Austin kicked early, after Leeds were awarded a set-restart and Furistua made a brilliant diving catch, tight to the right touchline.

Regan Grace attempted to drag him into touch, but he managed to offload to Newman just before he was pulled over the whitewash.

Newman looked to be totally boxed in, but shrugged off Jack Welsby and stepped past Matty Lees, Knowles and Jon Bennison on an irresistible surge to the line.

Sam Walters came on at prop in the final 10 minutes of the half and had claims for a try ruled out almost immediately, after Leeming’s kick rebounded to him off a post.

Referee Tom Grant thought he had scored, but was overruled by video assistant Liam Moore. That was the right decision, but the miss came back to haunt Leeds moments later.

Saints’ third try, five minutes before half-time, was a cracker in every respect bar one. They put together a lovely handling move which ended with Grace crossing, but he didn’t get the ball down.

Referee Grant, however, indicated a try and to the surprise of both sets of players, who were preparing for play to restart, Moore agreed.

The system which forces referees to guess at key incidents is wrong. If Grant had been sure it was a try, he’d have given it without asking the question. But once the question is asked, the video official absolutely has to get the decision right, otherwise what’s the point?

At the start of the second half Grant incorrectly indicated a drop out for Saints and had to be overruled by Moore.

Saints surged upfield in the resulting set and Hurrell went past Handley and Hardaker for his second try.

Rhinos responded positively, scoring their second try after 51 minutes. Austin’s kick was flicked by Handley to Martin and his quick pass sent Thompson over.

That got Leeds back in the game, but they conceded soon afterwards to Agnatius Paasi, from close range, after Hardaker had lost the ball in contact coming away from his own line.

Makinson’s third goal made it 26-12

Thompson has been playing well in recent games, but was sin-binned with 16 minutes left and that sparked a collapse during which Joe Batchelor, Dan Norman and Walmsley all crossed and Makinson took his goals tally to five goals.

Rhinos were without Liam Sutcliffe, Cameron Smith and Brad Dwyer from the team beaten at Huddersfield 13 days earlier.

Smith was ruled out with a back injury, but Sutcliffe’s omission was tactical.

He warmed up as 18th man and ran the water, as coach Rochan Smith stuck with Rhyse Martin in the centre alongside Harry Newman who made only his second start - and third appearance - of the season.

With Aidan Sezer back from injury as starting scrum-half, Myler dropped to the bench in place of Dwyer, but got only 15 minutes at the end.

The penalty count was 12-7 in Saints’ favour, the hosts receiving seven to Leeds’ one in the second half.