2022 Super League Grand Final

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2022 (2022) Super League Grand Final  ()
12 Total
STH 1212 24
LEE 66 12
Date24 September 2022
StadiumOld Trafford
LocationManchester
Harry Sunderland TrophyEngland Jonny Lomax ( St Helens)
JerusalemCamilla Kerslake
RefereeLiam Moore
Attendance60,783
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters
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The 2022 Super League Grand Final was the 25th official grand final and championship-deciding rugby league game of Super League XXVII. The match was contested between St Helens and the Leeds Rhinos, for a record fifth time at Old Trafford.

Background

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PP Points
1 St Helens 27 21 0 6 674 374 +300 42
5 Leeds Rhinos 27 14 1 12 577 528 +49 29

Route to the final

St Helens

Round Opposition Score
Semi-final Salford Red Devils (H) 19-12
Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue.

St Helens ended the regular season as League leaders, thus earning them a bye to the semi-final.

They played the lowest ranked winner of the eliminators, which was Salford.

2 minutes into the match, Salford lost Andy Ackers to a head injury, to which he then failed a HIA, ruling him out for the rest of the game.

The first try of the game came on 14 minutes, with Joe Batchelor touching down to give saints a 4–0 lead. Tommy Makinson converting the try 6–0. Batchelor got his 2nd try of the game 5 minutes later, with Makinson again converting the try to make it 12–0. Saints' Morgan Knowles was then penalised on 24 minutes, for an alleged Chicken wing tackle, to which he was sent to the sin bin for. From the resulting penalty, Kallum Watkins got Salford's first try of the game. Marc Sneyd converted the try 12–6. With less than a minute of the first half remaining, Jonny Lomax kicked a drop goal, to give saints a 13–6 lead at half time. Matty Lees thought he'd scored saints 3rd try on 49 minutes, but it was ruled out for a double movement.

Salford scored again on 61 minutes, as Joe Burgess broke clear down the left, to send Ryan Brierley under the posts, to bring Salford to within 1 point.

Saints scored again on 70 minutes, through Jon Bennison, to give saints a 5 point lead, before Makinson again converted to make it 19–12.

With 5 minutes of the game remaining, Salford were denied a possible penalty try, as Tommy Makinson committed a professional foul, as he pulled back Tim Lafai off the ball, as he was chasing a grubber kick. Makinson was sent to the sin, and the referee did not award a penalty try, as he deemed lafai would not have gotten to the ball in time.

Leeds Rhinos

Round Opposition Score
Elimination Semi-final Catalans Dragons (A) 10-20
Semi-final Wigan Warriors (A) 8-20
Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue.

Leeds finished the regular season in 5th, by beating Castleford Tigers 14–8 on the final day of the season, thus earning them a place in the eliminators.

First Eliminator

Leeds traveled to Catalans Dragons, in a game which saw 4 cards shown (3 yellow, 1 red). Mitchell Pearce was sent to the bin twice, and Michael McIllorum was also binned for the dragons, with Gil Dudson later sent off, for headbutting Aiden Sezer.

Catalans got the first points of the game on 28 minutes, as Leeds were penalised for offside. Sam Tomkins opted to kick the penalty goal, to which he was successful. Catalans 2-0 Leeds.

Leeds were penalised again for offside on 32 minutes, and Tomkins successfully kicked the penalty, to give the dragons a 4–0 lead.

Leeds got the first try of the game through Liam Sutcliffe, to level the scores at 4-4. Zak Hardaker kicked the conversion, to give Leeds a 6–4 lead.

With 3 minutes of the first half remaining, Sutcliffe scored his, and Leeds' 2nd try, to which was awarded by the video referee. Hardaker once again on target with the conversion, to give Leeds a 12-4 lead going into half time.

3 minutes into the 2nd half, Catalans got their first (and only) try of the game, through Dean Whare, with Tomkins successful with the conversion, to get Catalans to within 2 points.

On 64 minutes, Sutcliffe got his 3rd try of the game, again being awarded by the video referee. Hardaker once again successful with the conversion, to give Leeds an 8 point lead.

With less than 1 minute remaining, Leeds were awarded a penalty, with hardaker once again successful.

Final score: Catalans 10-20 Leeds

Semi-final

Leeds travelled to Wigan in the semi-final, as the highest ranked winner of the eliminators.

The first try of the game, came on 8 minutes, through Liam Marshall, after he made an acrobatic dive for the corner. The video referee awarded the try, as Marshall did not put a foot in touch before grounding the ball. Harry Smith missed the conversion.

On 19 minutes, Leeds were awarded a scrum, after a knock on from Wigan, but the referee gave a penalty to Wigan, due to interference at the scrum. Smith opted to go for goal, but the kick was wide, and the score remained 4-0.

With 5 minutes of the first half remaining, Leeds were awarded a penalty 10 metres out, to which Zak Hardaker kicked the goal, and bring Leeds back to within 2 points heading into half time.

5 minutes into the 2nd half, Leeds got their first try of the game, through Jarrod O'Connor, with Hardaker successful with the conversion, to give Leeds an 8-4 lead.

3 minutes later, Leeds scored again, with a try from James Bentley. Hardaker successful again with the conversion, to make it 14-4 to Leeds.

Things got worse for Wigan on 51 minutes, as John Bateman was shown a red card, for a late/dangerous tackle on Aiden Sezer, to which he was then required to leave the field for a HIA, before failing to pass the test, which meant he couldn't return.

With 15 minutes of the game remaining, Bentley scored his 2nd try of the game, to send Leeds to their first grand final since 2017, and ended Wigan's 13 match unbeaten home record.

Sam Powell scored a late consolation try for Wigan, but it was too little too late for Wigan.

Match details

24 September 2022
18:00 BST (UTC+01)
St Helens 24–12 Leeds Rhinos
Tries: Lees 3'
Bennison 18'
Hurrell 46'
Percival 58'
Goals: Makinson (4/4) 4', 19', 47', 59'
Penalty: Makinson (0/1)
Tries: Leeming 40'
Martin 72'
Goals: Martin (2/2) 40', 73'
Old Trafford, Manchester
Attendance: 60,783
Referee: Liam Moore
Player of the Match: Jonny Lomax
St Helens Position Leeds Rhinos
22 Jon Bennison rugby ball 18' Fullback 16 Richie Myler
2 Tommy Makinson Wing 20 Tom Briscoe
23 Konrad Hurrell rugby ball 46' Centre 33 Zak Hardaker
4 Mark Percival rugby ball 58' downward-facing red arrow 72' Centre 4 Liam Sutcliffe
3 Will Hopoate Wing 5 Ash Handley
1 Jack Welsby Scrum-half 17 Cameron Smith
6 Jonny Lomax Stand-off 8 Blake Austin
17 Agnatius Paasi downward-facing red arrow 23' Prop 8 Mikolaj Oledzki downward-facing red arrow 32', upward-facing green arrow 63', downward-facing red arrow 73'
9 James Roby Hooker 24 Jarrod O'Connor downward-facing red arrow 49'
10 Matty Lees rugby ball 3' Prop 10 Matt Prior downward-facing red arrow 21', upward-facing green arrow 65'
12 Joe Batchelor Second-row 11 James Bentley
16 Curtis Sironen Second-row 12 Rhyse Martin rugby ball 72'
13 Morgan Knowles Prop 13 Zane Tetevano
11 Sione Mata'utia Interchange 9 Kruise Leeming upward-facing green arrow 32', rugby ball 40'
14 Joey Lussick 25 James Donaldson upward-facing green arrow 49', downward-facing red arrow 65', upward-facing green arrow 73'
15 Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook upward-facing green arrow 23' 22 Sam Walters upward-facing green arrow 52', downward-facing red arrow 63'
19 Jake Wingfield 19 Bodene Thompson upward-facing green arrow 21', downward-facing red arrow 52'
Australia Kristian Woolf Head coach Australia Rohan Smith

Notes

References

External links