Stars remember one of Leeds Rhinos' greatest wins - 17 years on

On April 12, 2003, Rhinos snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a pulsating tie which saw two young prospects, Kevin Sinfield - already Leeds’ captain at the age of 22 - and 20-year-old Danny McGuire, come of age as big-game players.

Under coach Daryl Powell and assistant-boss Malcolm Reilly, Rhinos had beaten Saints in Super League a week earlier at Knowsley Road, when prop Wayne McDonald scored a sensational 80-metre try, but looked down and out at Huddersfield’s McAlpine Stadium.

With three minutes left a try by Darren Smith gave Saints a 26-20 lead, but - crucially - Paul Sculthorpe’s conversion attempt missed and Leeds’ short restart was fumbled to give Rhinos a last attacking chance.

On the final play of normal time, McGuire - who had come on as a 58th minute substitute - threw a dummy to squeeze over near the right-hand corner flag and reduce the gap to two points.

That left Sinfield - a right-footed kicker - with the most difficult of conversion attempts, but he landed a stunning goal to send the tie into two 10-minute halves of extra-time.

Saints had a touchdown disallowed before Sinfield edged Leeds ahead with a drop goal in the 90th minute. With 120 seconds remaining Leeds’ defence pulled Mick Higham down just short; Dave Furner then supplied Sinfield, he made a break and McGuire was in support to swerve over for a brilliant match-winning touchdown.

Rhinos went on to lose by two points to Bradford Bulls in the decider at Cardiff, but looking back, three of the semi-final’s key figures remember that 33-26 conquering of Saints as a huge day for the club.

McGuire had made his debut two years earlier, but described 2003 as “probably the year I felt I was properly part of the squad and an established first team player”.

He said: “The Cup was in the early part of the season and I hadn’t done much up to them, but that semi-final was the catapult for me.

“I always enjoyed playing semi-finals at Huddersfield and the atmosphere was electric.

“Saints were full of great players, a great team. For me, being a young lad of 20, coming off the bench and helping the team get to a final was really special. Definitely one of my favourite memories.”

For Sinfield, who had previously shared the duties with Furner, it was the afternoon he became Rhinos’ first-choice kicker.

The club’s record points scorer - and now director of rugby - remembered: “We were massive underdogs, we had a really good side, but Saints were littered with internationals and we seemed to keep drawing them in Challenge Cup semi-finals.

“We got battered by them in a couple before that, but Daryl and Mal and Mick Cook had done a great job with us.

“We had a young side, plus some experience in the likes of Franny [Cummins], Baz [Barrie McDermott], Matt Adamson and Dave [Furner], but it was a really enjoyable game and we all remember it for the last couple of minutes of normal-time and then extra-time.

“For us to be able to stick in and tie the game and then do what we did in extra-time was pretty special. That game gave us so much belief for what came in the following years. The fact we knew we could mix it with top sides was really important to us.”

Sinfield feels his equalising goal was “certainly up there” as one of the most important of his career.

“The way I looked at it, nobody expected me to kick it, from that far touchline, so there was no pressure,” he said.

“I had done plenty of practice, so it was just a case of flick into auto pilot, give it my best shot and luckily it went over.”

Now boss at Castleford Tigers, Powell was in his third - and final - season as Leeds coach.

“The finish was incredible, Danny scoring in the corner and Kev kicking the goal from the touchline, was incredible,” he recalled.

“It’s an abiding memory of two young players coming up with something special.

“I left Danny out for the final, which was a very tough call but he and Kev had starring roles for Leeds in that game and were pretty pivotal to the future of the club and the golden generation that came after that.”

The back-to-back league and cup wins over Saints also boosted Powell’s reputation as an up and coming coach. He reflected: “We played two different ways, had two different game plans and we won both games.

“For me as a young coach it was good in terms of me being able to come up with a strategy to beat one of the best teams in two consecutive weeks. The players were superb in both games, but the semi-final was special.”

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