Leeds Rhinos vs St Helens Prediction: Scully backing Saints to march to semis

The Betfred Super League regular season has come to a close, and it's now time for knockout rugby league. St Helens will host Leeds Rhinos in an eliminator play-off tie on Saturday night (20:00, live on Sky Sports +) at AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium.

Saints legend Paul Sculthorpe shares his Leeds Rhinos vs St Helens predictions ahead of Saturday's showdown.

Well that’s the regular season over with - time for the business end!

Saints signed off as expected with a home win over the Castleford Tigers on Friday at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

It wasn’t quite the convincing 32-point win I predicted last week, instead a drab 26-24 victory, in a game that looked exactly what it was - a dead rubber.

Understandably with this, Wello chose to rest some of his key players ahead of a likely elimination quarter-final against Leeds this coming weekend. Lees, Walmsley, Clark, Sironen, Percival and young guns Robertson and Delaney all sat out of the Tigers win.

In doing that allowed the Saints boss to blood some new young players, namely Leon Cowen, and Jake Davies, who both did their reputations no harm at all. Also, it was great to see Noah Stephens back in the starting line-up after a period on the sidelines. Saints fans also got their first look at new boy Shane Wright, after the Aussie was brought in on loan from the crumbling Salford Red Devils.

Morgan Knowles, however, did play after a fortnight off. He got through unscathed, and later this week was named the only Saint in the 2025 Betfred Super League Dream Team.

We have all sung Morg’s praises all year and his inclusion is probably the most deserving of the 13 named.

He is going to be such a key player this weekend at Headingley, along with Lees, Walmsley and Delaney if Saints are to make the semi finals.

I think Leeds are there for the taking, and I, unlike many, am still far from convinced the Rhinos have the minerals to win big games and silverware.

However, if Saints let them play, they will…

But, if Knowles and Co, head over the Pennines intent on getting in the faces of Leeds, they give themselves the best opportunity to progress to the semis.

Unfortunately, despite now being potentially 240 minutes from the end of the season, we still look far from clinical in attack, and no doubt still unsure what the spine of the side will look like come Saturday evening.

Therefore, if it was me I’d revert to playing ‘to and through’ the Rhinos. Subtle combinations but direct, with the big fellas creating quick ruck speed, allowing the likes of Clark and Mbye to jump out of dummy half and hit the opposition defenders going backwards.

Play-off matches are a step up in intensity, and more often than not, these games are won on doing the little things well. Good ball control, quick ruck speed, smart kicking game and aggressive defensive line speed. If Saints can master these I truly believe they have too much fire power for Leeds.

Third-placed Leigh Leopards host sixth-placed Wakefield in the other elimination game this weekend. Both teams have showed their capabilities throughout this season, but I must give special credit to Wakey who made the top-six in their first season back in the Betfred Super League.

However, Leigh have been consistently one of the best teams this season, and believe they are a genuine contenders to lift the Super League trophy in two weeks time.

I’m going for a Leigh win, and a trip across the Borough to face Wigan in the semi-final. Title sponsors Betfred agree, with the Leopards 1/4 favourites to progress. The Warriors, along with League Leaders shield winners Hull KR both have a well-earned week off this weekend having finished in the top two.

So, to Headingley the Saints go marching!

I’m going for a big Saints ‘do or die’ performance, but far more importantly a win - and an opportunity to go to East Hull next weekend and play themselves back to the Theatre of Dreams.

Super League sponsors Betfred obviously make this a close encounter with the Leeds Rhinos vs St Helens Odds as follows - Leeds 4/9, Saints 19/10 and the draw is 18/1.

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