Rhinos pay the penalty

It keeps the ball dry, the turf fresh, the crowd happy, dramatically improves the atmosphere and, most importantly, creates the perfect conditions for kicking.

Something young skipper Kevin Sinfield will regret not taking advantage of for the remainder of his career.

Six minutes left on the errant stadium clock, the game poised at 22-20 to Bradford and the Bulls penalised for offside, Leeds had a chance to take the two points and level the scores.

Instead the Rhinos took a tap, failed to cross the whitewash and the cup went to Bradford for the sixth time in their illustrious

history.

Having won a place at the Millennium Stadium courtesy of Sinfield's touchline conversion in the semi-final against St Helens, you would have thought he knew the importance of taking these rare chances. The Rhinos, you could argue, only completed their journey to Cardiff because an over-ambitious Saints side went for tries not drop goals when the scores were level at Huddersfield two weeks ago.

Which makes the decision to repeat the Saints' sin in the ultimate finale all the more unfortunate.

Unfortunate, that is, if you are Leeds fan.

But for Bradford it was the ultimate case of being let off the hook, as Brian Noble's men hung on to clinch their dramatic win by the narrowest of margins.

Brian Noble said he would have taken the points, Robbie Paul, the skipper whose choice it would have been, admitted he would have kicked and a whole host of other triumphant Bulls said they were surprised. Surprised, and relieved that they don't have to put their bodies on the line again in an Elland Road replay.

It was the toughest of battles for the Bulls, particularly in the closing minutes, as they were forced to defend consecutive sets just yards from their own sacred line in a desperate battle to cling on.

The grandstand climax was set up after a pulsating afternoon of tight, power rugby that saw neither side pull away by more than eight points.

A beautiful, flowing game of rugby league was never going to be on the cards and the tension of a raucous Yorkshire derby made for a nervous game of few risks, but plenty of mistakes from either side.

Within 90 seconds, Lee Radford gave the 'Who wants to be a Millionaire' music its first airing, when the video referee was called on to rule out his surprise breakaway score.

It seems the ball had been stolen in a two-man tackle on Ryan Bailey but this set-back couldn't slow down the rampant Bulls.

Some astute kicking from the mercurial Jimmy Lowes, and some strong chasing, ensured a couple of drop-outs for Bradford and on their fourth consecutive set they got their reward.

A trademark off-load from big Joe Vagana released Tevita Vaikona whose inside pass gave Paul a stroll home. Paul Deacon took the extras and the Bulls, now the scorers of 200 points in this year's competition, were on their way.

But the see-saw action saw the Rhinos come straight back into it with Gary Connolly, later awarded the Lance Todd Trophy, controversially touching down.

With Peacock round his legs and Deacon on his shoulders, multiple replays revealed a double movement, but the TRY came from the video referee and Sinfield levelled the scores.

David Furner nearly joined his former Wigan team-mate as a scorer, but crossing by Chris McKenna correctly annulled that score.

Barrie McDermott then took out emergency prop Danny Gartner rather stupidly round the neck and off the ball and Deacon gave his side an 8-6 lead from 37 metres.

Three minutes later, Lowes ripped the ball from opposing hooker Matt Diskin and, thanks to the extra ten metres awarded for dissent, Sinfield stroked over the simplest of equalising kicks (a lesson he should have learnt for later).

And then Leeds went on to take the lead for the first time, once again from Sinfield's kicking.

This time he hoisted a bomb to the right-hand side and the sprightly Mark Calderwood beat the Volcano, knocking the ball back for McKenna to touch down.

The video referee once again was painfully slow in ruling that the ball had been grounded despite the best efforts of Shontayne Hape.

As half-time approached, the giant Tongan winger Vainikolo made sure he atoned for his error with a much-needed score.

Deacon cut left, swapped passes with Hape and then dabbed through for the big man to come from nowhere to dive on the bouncing ball. The hooter went and it was 14 apiece.

After the break the Bulls made their usual quick start with Peacock getting his first touchdown of the season. A Deacon kick was spilled by Franny Cummins under pressure from Vaikona and Peacock was awarded the score. Deacon had no problems from the touchline.

Worryingly Lowes, suffering with a back problem, was replaced by Pratt, who immediately took revenge on his former employers by taking out Andrew Dunemann after the Aussie had launched a kick. Matt Adamson, who defied medical science to take part in this pulsating encounter, handed out a punishment beating.

The lead was extended beyond a single score for the first time when Deacon stroked one over following an off-side and Leeds were made to chase the game - and chase it they did.

With Bradford bruised, battered and tiring, the Rhinos kicked on and took advantage of a Lee Gilmour error.

The Bulls utility man tossed a pass into the hands of Keith Senior, and although Gilmour miraculously caught the bald sprinter, Leeds were on the attack.

A couple of tackles later Furner jinked over, Sinfield added the extras and the grandstand finish was on.

The Rhinos pushed hard, the Bulls defended multiple sets and dealt with difficult kicks until a penalty for off-side after Paul had knocked on a Diskin grubber and Leeds had a choice.

The wrong decision was taken, the hooter went and it was three Yorkshire final wins out of three for the men from Odsal.