Leeds Rhinos boss Richard Agar admits Saints are "too big, too powerful, too strong"

They were destroyed in the first half with England prop Alex Walmsley running riot amid paperthin defence as Saints raced into a 22-0 lead inside just 23 minutes.

It was always going to be damage limitation thereafter for Leeds who now drop to sixth and know they could potentially fall out of the play-off places when they host top-six rivals Hull KR in next Friday’s final regular round.

Agar said: “Saints were too big, too powerful, too strong.

“We were rabbits in the headlights.

“We said that at half-time and that, the more you do things together and tackle with your shoulders, it tends to pay you back.

“We did that a little bit better in the second half but the damage was well and truly done in the early period of the game.”

Leeds, who secured a crucial Golden Point win over Hull FC last weekend, were always up against it given they were missing a raft of senior players once more.

Agar added: “I thought it’d be a challenge coming here.

“But you can’t just dip your toe in the pond. You have to jump in head first. We didn’t do that.

“By the time we started to do things a little bit better, the game was well and truly out of reach.”

As Saints secure second spot, Agar remains confident his side can still finish their own job.

“We’ll pick them up,” he said.

“We’ve worked too hard this year to let that derail us.

“We’re not going to be happy with it. Of course we’re not.

“But at the same time letting our season fade away on the back of a poor 40 minutes like that, we won’t let ourselves do that.”