St Helens 54 Warrington 14 For Warrington it was Nightmare in Knowsley Road Part

St Helens 54 Warrington 14 For Warrington, it was Nightmare in Knowsley Road Part 2. A blood-chiller in which self-inflicted injury loomed large, writes Dave Hadfield. Clive Griffiths' reign as coach began as Brian Johnson's had ended, with a heavy defeat by neighbours who could not resist twisting the knife. With Scott Quinnell doing more than his share of destructive running to spearhead the Wigan pack, Leeds simply could not live with them and trailed by 32 points - with the threat of a lot more to come - after 50 minutes.The Leeds coach, Dean Bell, a major contributor to so many of Wigan's achievements during his eight years as a player at the club, was now on the receiving end, starting not just to appreciate how all their victims have felt, but also having an inkling of the nausea that descended on Brian Johnson as St Helens put 80 points past Warrington in the first semi-final on Thursday.Leeds saved his peace of mind by emerging from a hopeless situation with evidence that they are developing better fighting qualities.Even with so much going wrong around them, young players like Adrian Morley and more experienced ones like Neil Harmon maintained their efforts, while both substitutes, Harvey Howard and - after the nightmare replacement of Shaw for Forshaw - Mick Shaw, improved matters when they came on.No, there is no need for Bell to resign just yet.Wigan: Connolly; Robinson, Tuigamala, Radlinski, Offiah; Paul, Edwards; Skerrett (Dermott, h-t), Hall, O'Connor (Smyth, 71), Quinnell, Cassidy, Haughton.Leeds: Holroyd; Fallon, Cummins, Innes, Golden; Mann, Schofield; Harmon (McDermott, 66), Lowes, McDermott (Howard, 30), Morley, Field, Forshaw (Shaw, 30).Referee: S Cummings (Widnes).. Connolly might have the look of a slightly dissolute choirboy, but he has the strength and constitution of an ox.Similarly, and because there is so little obvious effort, he does not immediately impress as particularly fast, but the way he raced away for the second of his tries showed balanced, deadly acceleration that virtually nobody in the code can match.The first hour of the game showed Wigan at something like their awesome best, making hardly any mistakes with the ball and pouncing ruthlessly on all Leeds' errors.Apart from Connolly and Radlinski, the scorer of their first try, Martin Hall, was a constant presence at the heart of their best work, as, inevitably, was Shaun Edwards.

They both played sterling roles in the strong defensive effort that gradually put Wigan on top in the first 20 minutes of what still looked like a contest.Radlinski scored one of the three tries between the 20th and 29th minutes that set Wigan on the way to the final against St Helens at Huddersfield on Saturday, but it was Connolly who really put Leeds through the shredder.It is hard now to recollect that, only a couple of months ago, he was recovering from a bout of pneumonia that seemed likely to debilitate him for most of the season.But he is a deceptive player in every respect. Rugby League DAVE HADFIELD Wigan 38 Leeds 18Even a machine as powerful as Wigan sometimes needs a little fine-tuning.Such a case arose last month when their coach, Graeme West, decided that two of his backs, Gary Connolly and Kris Radlinski, were, as he puts it, "going ordinary".Leeds will wish, after a Regal Trophy semi-final that was more clear- cut than it looks from its score, that West had not found such a simple but effective answer as swapping their positions.At Central Park on Saturday, Radlinski played admirably at centre, but Connolly was nothing short of glorious at full-back. West Hartlepool: Tries Shelley, Stimpson; Penalties Stimpson 2.Gloucester: T Smith (L Osborne, 48); P Holford, M Roberts, D Caskie, T Beim; M Kimber, B Fenley (L Beck 54-56); A Powles, P Greening, W Bullock, D Sims (capt), R West, P Glanville, I Smith, P Miles.West Hartlepool: T Stimpson (capt); O Evans, P Hodder, C Lee, A Blyth; A Parker, S Cook; P Beal (S Sparks, 52-55), T Herbert, M Shelley, P Evans, K Westgarth, R Leach (D Lockey, 73-75), A Brown, D Mitchell.Referee: C Rees (Twickenham).. The home pack - for whom Phil Greening was outstanding at hooker - dominated, but their hard work was too frequently wasted.Would that West had someone as dynamic as Greening in their pack They did try. And if the prop Mike Shelley was not exactly poetry in motion when he scored West's opening try from a first-half tap penalty, he certainly was effective In the end though it came down to kicks at goal. Gloucester's full-back Tim Smith landed three out of four before he left the field with suspected medial ligament damage, which may have ended his season. Poor Stimpson succeeded with two out of four penalties, then fluffed that vital conversion.Gloucester: Try Beim; Penalties T Smith 3, L Osborne.

But Gloucester had to undergo three further agonising minutes of injury time before the two points were safely in the bag But it was robbery. West made all the running, playing to their strengths (their threequarters) and exposing the inadequacies of the Gloucester backs. He possesses power and pace, and used them to devastating effect. Whenever West Hartlepool spread the ball wide the tentative Gloucester backs looked worried, as well they might.That the invaders were ultimately kept at bay was down entirely to Stimpson and he left Kingsholm kicking himself. His injury-time try, which silenced the usually vocal locals, was forgotten when he messed up the relatively simple conversion.The crowd erupted into mocking howls and yells of relief. This is a side that can, and does, play rugby.Regardless of whether they stay up, Tim Stimpson, their captain and full- back is destined for greater things.