Kevin Brown has his say on controversial decision against Leeds Rhinos

After doing battle in the Betfred Super League last week, Super League’s most successful clubs did battle again in the Betfred Challenge Cup as Leeds Rhinos hosted St Helens at the newly renamed AMT Headingley Stadium.

A week ago, the two clubs served up what Rohan Smith would described as “the best game of the season so far” after his side were on the wrong end of an 18-8 scoreline. Smith was looking to lead his side to a first home win over St Helens since 2017 and a first Challenge Cup victory since 2020 when they won the trophy with the Rhinos being beaten at the first hurdle by St Helens in 2021, Castleford Tigers in 2022 and Wigan Warriors in 2023.

These are the second and third most successful clubs in Challenge Cup history and the two teams will have both been dreaming of Wembley going into the game.

Saints were dealt a blow before the game through the absence of Lewis Dodd whilst Leeds welcomed back both Sam Lisone and Paul Momirovski from suspension and injury respectively.

Despite being without Dodd, Saints started by far the better and after 10 minutes of pressure they took the lead thanks to a Jonny Lomax penalty. He would be two for two five minutes later when he nailed a second penalty to make it 4-0.

After a tough start, the Rhinos were hanging in there as Saints attacked again but this time Harry Newman intercepted and went the length to score a sensational try. However, just before the break, Saints struck through Daryl Clark to give them the lead.

Saints would eventually take full control of the game in the second half after some Leeds flurries. Jon Bennison would make it two tries in two weeks against the Rhinos before Alex Walmsley stormed over to make it 20-6. That’s the way it would stay as Saints moved into the quarter-finals.

Kevin Brown has his say on controversial Leeds Rhinos decision

It is certainly clear that the turning point in the game was the Jon Bennison try which was seen as controversial by many fans inside the ground.

However, these suggestions were dismissed by Kevin Brown on BBC. He said: “He kicked the ball for me. Kicked the ball and I think it’s going to be a try.

“Everyone in the crowd thinks he’s dropped the ball but I’m watching the replay and he drops it onto his toe.”

So, it seems the try was perfectly fine and from there the Saints went on to secure the victory.