Leeds Rhinos defied the odds to retain their engage Super League crown and deny Daniel Anderson a fairytale ending to his tenure as St Helens coach.

The Rhinos became only the second team - after Saints - to successfully defend their Super League title by bringing an end to St Helens' 23-match unbeaten run in front of a 68,810 crowd who braved the conditions on a filthy night in Manchester.

While Anderson bowed out as a runner-up, his former New Zealand assistant coach Brian McClennan was able to celebrate a famous victory in his first season at the helm.

Hero of the hour for the Rhinos was full-back Lee Smith, who was shunted from the wing in a late enforced change following the withdrawal of Brent Webb and responded with a man-of-the-match performance of which he could only have dreamed.

Rain began to fall an hour before kick-off and it was inevitable that whoever could hold their footing on the slippery surface would help decide the outcome of the tense duel.

And it was the sure-footed Danny McGuire who produced the decisive moment, jinking past wrong-footed defenders to weave his way over for the all-important try on 62 minutes.

McGuire had gained possession from a fumble by St Helens winger Ade Gardner, who was not the first to be deceived by the awkward conditions that turned rugby league's showpiece occasion into something of a lottery.

But there was no denying the superiority of the Rhinos, who worked wonders to turn around the humiliation of a 38-10 defeat by Saints only a fortnight earlier as well as the loss of the inspirational Webb.

Yet, instead of being a mortal blow to their hopes of a successful title defence, the enforced changes paid handsome dividends with both Smith and replacement wing Ryan Hall scoring first-half tries and generally having a big say on the outcome.

As well as being secure as last line of defence, Smith added a cutting edge to the Rhinos' attack and only a superb last-ditch tackle from his opposite number Paul Wellens prevented him from scoring on the counter-attack.

But Wellens could do nothing to prevent Smith touching down after 22 minutes as he got on the end of a neat offload from impressive second-rower Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

Kevin Sinfield's conversion levelled the scores and the champions hit the front four minutes before half-time thanks to two examples of delicate play that contrasted with an otherwise full-on physical contest.

First centre Keith Senior, having switched from the left-hand side following the withdrawal of Carl Ablett, flicked Sinfield's pass on with precision for Hall to put in a deft grubber kick and dive onto the ball over the line.

Sinfield's touchline conversion made it 12-6 and Anderson's response was a half-time blast captured vividly by the 'fly-on-the wall' television camera placed in the corner of the Saints dressing room.

Anderson's men had opened the scoring when newly-crowned Man of Steel James Graham finished off a superb move in which second-rower Lee Gilmour handled twice.

St Helens started the second half in much the same fashion and drew level through centre Matt Gidley after Gardner had palmed back Long's high kick to the corner but this was not the side who had dominated Super League for the last five months.

Once McGuire raced onto a perfectly-judged grubber kick from Sinfield to register his first try on 48 minutes, the writing was on the wall for the Lancastrians.

Gardner pulled a try back after collecting James Roby's cut-out pass but there was no way back after McGuire came up with his magic a second time.

Saints became ragged as they began to chase the game and the stray passes were not just down to the conditions - they were well beaten by a better side on the day.