Leeds Rhinos vs St Helens Prediction: Saints to make it five in a row

St Helens made it four wins on the spin on Saturday with a 13-6 win over Hull FC - and they'll be hoping to keep the run going when they face Leeds Rhinos on Friday night (20:00, live on Sky Sports Main Event).

Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe is here with his Leeds Rhinos vs St Helens predictions.

Well, that’s four wins in a row for Paul Wellens and Co. as the Saints continue to grow in confidence.

I did say in last week's column, we could climb to third in the Betfred Super League table if the other two games containing the remaining top four teams went to plan.

They didn’t! Leigh dominated Wigan and Leeds subjected Willie Peters' Hull KR - Betfred Challenge Cup heroes and current league leaders - to only their second defeat of the season.

With those results, Saints remain in fifth place, while the ever-impressing Wakefield Trinity have leapfrogged Hull FC into sixth.

Saints once again showed lots of grit and determination to come away from West Hull with a valuable 13-6 win.

Kyle Feldt yet again crossed for the opening try, following a Jonnie Lomax penalty. The right winger, who scored his 12th try in nine games, had too much strength for FC skipper Aidan Sezer following some slick hands from Lomax and Tristan Sailor.

The away side applied most of the pressure and field position in the opening 40 minutes, but couldn’t make it tell on the scoreboard, going in at just 8-0.

However, it only took four minutes of the second period for that man Feldt to power his way over. A smart switch-back kick from Moses Mbye had the Hull FC defenders backpedalling, and Feldt used his momentum to climb above and ground the ball.

At 53 minutes on the clock, a defensive lapse in concentration from Jake Wingfield allowed Sezer to break clear, putting Davey Litten over and back to within one score.

This remained the same for the next 25 minutes, until Saints skipper Jonnie Lomax sealed the win with a drop goal just a couple of minutes away from full-time.

Wello spoke of his delight in the win, especially the effort and attitude on display. Yes, we still need to find a way of creating more scoring opportunities with the ball, but it’s that competitive aggression that wins big games.

This coming week, they will again need to step up their game. They face Leeds at Headingley, following the Rhinos' impressive win away at Craven Park.

I’m still to be convinced they're genuine title contenders, and hopefully we can see a repeat of the 18-4 Saints win only three weeks ago.

I’m backing Saints to win by 1-12 points, making it five wins on the bounce, and overtake Leeds on the table.

In other news, my old GB teammate Danny Maguire has been the latest casualty to lose his job, due to poor players.

Magsy had recently been in hot water with the RFL following his comments on a blatant referee error that undoubtedly cost his side points against the Wigan Warriors.

This week his side went down 30-12 to 11th-placed Huddersfield. However, watching some of Cas' performances you wonder how much more he can do.

As I said earlier this year, coaches don’t miss tackles or drop balls - players have to be accountable for their efforts.

Danny is one of the smartest, competitive and committed young coaches in the game, and I’m sure Cas’ loss will be someone else’s gain very soon.

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