Millward challenges Saints

The St Helens coach, Ian Millward, is looking for his players to reproduce their Challenge Cup-winning form to give them a chance of completing the double.

The St Helens coach, Ian Millward, is looking for his players to reproduce their Challenge Cup-winning form to give them a chance of completing the double.

Millward's men lost further ground on the leading three clubs with their 25-19 home defeat by Leeds on Friday night, and look certain to finish fifth ahead of the Tetley's Super League play-offs.

That will mean playing sudden-death rugby away from home all the way to Old Trafford, starting with the difficult trip to arch-rivals Wigan in a fortnight's time.

But Saints defeated Super League opposition all the way to the Millennium Stadium to lift the Challenge Cup earlier this season, and Millward is not concerned over the absence of a home tie in the Grand Final Series.

"That does not worry me," he said. "Basically we are in the draw for the Challenge Cup. You have got to be going into the play-offs with your right personnel fit and also playing well, and I think we are getting closer to both."

Saints will be boosted for next Friday's final game of the regular season at Bradford by the return of scrum-half Sean Long, who was yesterday given clearance to make his comeback from a three-month ban.

The League finally relented over the timing of the expiry of Long's suspension, and Millward is delighted. "I thought all along he would be available," said Millward. "I don't know why the League tried to make it so hard for us.

"It would have been like putting Christmas back a week. Thankfully, Santa Claus can now get the toys ready and all the kids can sit in front of the fire and open them up next Friday.

"I can't wait to have Sean back. I love coaching him. He is so vibrant and we have missed him. He is in the top four half-backs in the world."

Even without Long, St Helens pushed the league leaders all the way in a pulsating, error-strewn match at a damp Knowsley Road. They were good value for an 18-6 interval lead, courtesy of tries from Paul Wellens, Jon Wilkin and Mark Edmondson, but paid for a lapse in concentration that allowed Leeds to score two tries in three minutes midway through the second half. Leeds snatched a dramatic win when Kevin Sinfield broke way to send Matt Diskin over with three minutes to go.

There was also a tight finish at Belle Vue, where Wakefield scrum-half Ben Jeffries landed a 74th-minute drop goal to earn his side a 21-20 victory over Huddersfield.

It was the Wildcats' eighth successive home win and confirmed their first-ever appearance in the play-offs.