Then, with the club leading the table, the then manager David O’Leary published his ill-advised tome Leeds United On Trial.Others, before and since, cannot escape their share of responsibility, most obviously Peter Ridsdale, the chairman Walter Mitty thought was a fantasist; Alan Leighton and the board who approved Ridsdale’s reckless spending; and Jonathan Woodgate, whose trial and conviction for the assault of an Asian student took such an attritional toll on Leeds.With key players sold to service their debts, Leeds have, in the candid post-match assessment of their caretaker manager, Eddie Gray, simply not been good enough. He was helped off, to the particular disappointment of his friend Robert Pires, the Arsenal footballer, who was Castaign?’s guest at the game.Saracens rallied and returned after the interval with renewed determination, cancelling out a soft interception try for Hanley by scoring one of their own through wing Richard Haughton.Then came a wonderful passage of play. The superlative Saracens forwards pressed and pushed and as the Sale defence splintered Kevin Sorrell knifed through on a great angle Little converted. So the further 10 or so players Kafer is looking to sign to replace the dozen or so who are leaving Saracens at the end of the season will have to come from elsewhere.With the former Sharks players Nicky Little, who scored 19 of Saracens points yesterday, and captain Simon Raiwalui already ensconced in Watford, the Cheshire club is beginning to resemble something of a Saracens nursery.That impression was reinforced on the field, where Sale showed a naivety in approach that rendered them ineffectual It was no surprise they have never won at Vicarage Road. They even overcame the early loss of Thomas Castaign?, who was injured scoring their opening try.The French international centre had come into the match suffering from sciatica, and the crushing weight of the beaten Sale defence when they landed on him after he gathered Little’s chip ahead and lunged over proved too much for his back to bear. It was a matter of wonder, though, that they were actually leading at the break, thanks chiefly to Charlie Hodgson and Steve Hanley.Hodgson, at fly-half, made a brilliant break to unleash the wing for the first of his two tries, and then converted it, as well as adding three penalties But Saracens demonstrated tremendous character.

After yesterday’s magnificent victory, sadly too late to get them a play-off place, the head coach, Rod Kafer, announced the capture of yet another Sale player – the England Under-19 scrum-half Joe Bedford. Saracens are signing players faster than you can say “transfer”. The Scarlets are convinced they will lose the services of their key man, although the fact he has asked for more time to make his decision at least gives them hope.Jones weighed in with his usual quota of points, kicking three penalties and two conversions, and will be a huge loss. With two games to play the Scarlets are a point ahead of Ulster, who they meet at Stradey Park in the last round of matches, and the Dragons are one point back in third.If this was not the Scarlets’ most efficient display of the season it just about did the job. Glasgow were gritty and committed throughout and felt they had achieved something at the end when Danny Millard grabbed a fourth try to seal an invaluable bonus point.Wales scrum-half Dwayne Peel scored two second-half tries, although off the field all the talk was about which club his Test half-back partner, Stephen Jones, will play for next season.All week the smart money had been on a switch to the Zurich Premiership with the Leicester Tigers, although French club Montferrand re-entered the equation late in the week. If nothing else, there is going to be a fantastic finish to the first season of a full blown Celtic League.

Leaders Ulster failed to pick up a bonus point on Friday night, giving their two rivals for the title, the Newport Gwent Dragons and the Llanelli Scarlets, the chance to make up ground. Huddersfield hit back with a dazzling try, begun by Crabtree’s wonderful offload, continued by Genny’s surging run and finished by Julian Bailey.The Giants took the lead when Genny supplied the pass to send Ben Roarty through Paul Noone’s tackle. Huddersfield had a couple of other good chances, but the Wolves were level at half time when Briers sent Jerome Guisset in and Briers’ subtly flighted kick produced a try for Dean Gaskell after the break.That looked like a winning position, but Warrington ran out of energy – one commodity every side needs against the revitalised Giants.Two other worries for Cullen were that Danny Lima, already facing a disciplinary hearing this week on a high tackle charge, was placed on report for another, and that Ben Westwood was stretchered off after taking a heavy knock. Meanwhile, the Samoan No 8 Semo Sititi has already signed and a hooker and a second-row are also required.Newcastle’s 18-year-old wing Matthew Tait scored with his first touch of the ball before the flanker Warren Britz added another try Barry Everitt’s two penalties made it 12-6 at half time. Substitutes used: Cooper, Morrison, Smith, CrabtreeReferee: R Silverwood (Mirfield)..

Newcastle’s director of rugby, Rob Andrew, hinted at changes to his squad for next season after this demoralising home loss to the Exiles. So it was a poor afternoon all round for the Wolves.Warrington: Hulse, Gaskell, Westwood, Grose, Varkulis, Briers, N Wood, P Wood, Clarke, Lima, Burns, Wainwright, Noone, Substitutes used: Sibbit, Guisset, Hilton, StevensHuddersfield: Reilly, O’Hare, Gene, Bailey, Donlan, Costin, March, Fleary, Penkywicz, Gannon, Jones, Roarty, Nero. “We didn’t have 17 who gave the ultimate effort.”There had been little hint of the drama to come in a scrappy opening quarter, punctuated by penalties and errors and notable only for the try that Lee Briers and Gary Hulse created for John Clarke. “We felt that the semi-final didn’t reflect the quality of our side.”Warrington suffered from the after-effects of a hard fought draw with Bradford on Tuesday night “We allowed ourselves to become victims of circumstances. Our main opposition was fatigue and we succumbed to that,” their coach, Paul Cullen, said. Two tries in three minutes after the interval, from Jamie Field and Sid Domic, both converted by the man of the match, David March, who scored 16 points, fuelled Wakefield’s attacking confidence..