Rhinos charge into Final

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The Rhinos bounced back in style from their crushing defeat by Saints a week earlier to secure a fifth trip to Old Trafford with a well-earned victory in a tense and dramatic final eliminator at Headingley.

The Rhinos edged an enthralling first half, with winger Lee Smith scoring the only try, but the Warriors - who arrived less than an hour before kick-off due to motorway congestion - were well in the hunt until centre Keith Senior grabbed the all-important match-clincher on the hour.

The champions dominated much of the match but were continually thwarted by former winger Mark Calderwood, who pulled off four try-saving tackles to keep the Warriors' hopes alive on his final appearance for them.

But there was no denying the superiority of Brian McClennan's men, who had brilliant performers in second row pair Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Ali Lauitiiti.

It was physical, at times brutal, but entirely compelling, with two players sin-binned and two others placed on report for alleged foul play in a frenetic match.

Wigan battled to the end and were rewarded with late tries by Harrison Hansen and Iafeta Paleaaesina but the final whistle signalled the end of the road for acting captain Trent Barrett, who will return home to Australia next month without a Grand Final appearance, while Calderwood, Liam Colbon and Mickey Higham also brought their Warriors' career to an end.

Earlier, trouble had sparked in just the 10th minute when Smith was put on report for apparently kicking Wigan second rower Phil Bailey in the face.

Whether that was accidental or deliberate will be determined on Monday by the League's match review panel, who will also be interested in examining a free-for-all involving around half the 26 players.

It stemmed from a superb tackle by Calderwood, who tracked back 70 metres to halt Jones-Buchanan, but then conceded a penalty by diving on the ball from an offside position. Calderwood was shown the yellow card for his offence while Leeds centre Keith Senior joined him in the sin bin for his part in the fracas.