Crusaders stun mighty Leeds

Wigan's Paul Prescott, with ball, is tackled by Leon Pryce during yesterday's game.

Brian Noble could not hide his delight after steering Crusaders to arguably their finest hour with a glorious 32-26 victory against Leeds, the reigning champions. Noble's Wrexham-based side out-scored the Rhinos by five tries to four and this famous success was no more than they deserved. Noble - no stranger to success at Headingley from his Bradford days - said: "I love this stadium because it's a fabulous place to come and play rugby. We instilled the belief in the players and I thought we deserved the win.

St Helens resisted a late Wigan comeback to hold on for a 26-24 victory and blow the league leadership race wide open. Mick Potter's men had just enough to see off Michael Maguire's table-toppers meaning they are only four points behind them in third place, while second-placed Warrington are even closer with a deficit of just two points. It was not as easy as it should have been for the Saints, though, who held a 14-point advantage going into the final 10 minutes.

Richard Agar, the Hull coach, slammed his players for the way they threw away an 18-0 lead against injury-hit Huddersfield, who roared back to win 32-18. The visitors seemed set for a fifth consecutive Super League victory when they scored three converted tries in the opening half-hour. But Agar was left fuming after the Giants hit back with 32 unanswered points. Agar said: "There were some pretty lazy efforts out there from our big men. We got ourselves into a good position and then seemed to give up.

Justin Morgan was thrilled with a strong team performance as Hull KR completed the double over Harlequins with a 42-6 win. Michael Dobson scored two tries and kicked seven goals as Rovers romped to victory. Morgan said: "It really was just a good solid team performance. "In the 78th minute we showed a great desire to defend our line when the game was certainly won. Terry Matterson, the coach, believes Castleford are primed for a play-off push after claiming a thrilling 28-22 win at Salford.

The Tigers backed up Tuesday's 24-20 win over Catalan Dragons and moved within three points of the top eight. Ricky Stuart, the Cronulla coach, has refused to blame Tony Archer despite Australia's No 1 referee committing a gaffe that may have put paid to the Sharks' slim NRL finals hopes. With Cronulla trailing St George Illawarra 12-4 and 10 minutes remaining yesterday, Archer inexplicably refused to go to the video referee when lock Paul Gallen burrowed over for what he believed was a try, the referee ruling the NSW Origin representative had been held up. The Sharks had wasted yet another opportunity and the Dragons put on two late tries to run out 22-4 winners.

"It was a very, very crucial decision," Stuart said. "That was an important result for us." * Agencies