JUSTIN Holbrook felt his Saints team did not get a chance in the second half to win their Super 8s clash with Leeds Rhinos at Headingley.

He made reference to spending too much time defending their own line, having no luck with the rub of the green as Leeds piled up repeat sets.

“I thought we started the second half well, then got an obstruction penalty that was a big call and then there was a few last-tackle calls that made it really hard,” he said.

“We didn’t get much ball so that’s going to take your juice.”

Holbrook said he did not feel it was a game that got away from his men.

“We just didn't seem to get an opportunity to try to win it,” he said.

"It was a really good and tough first half but we just couldn't get going for one reason or another in the second half and it made it really tough.

"Full credit to Leeds, I thought they played really well.

"I just don't think we got a chance in the second half with all those six agains, of which I'm still amazed at about five of them so it made it really hard for us.

"We were camped on our try line for that whole second half but credit to Leeds because they kept us down there.

"I don't think we played poorly at all, I feel very similar to the last time we played Leeds here and I feel like I'm saying similar things.

"It's a tough place to play, I've worked that out.

"I'm really proud of our team. We had the ball for 30 per cent possession in the second half and to get within two points of a dangerous Leeds side says something.

"They were always going to be hard to beat with the whole South Stand scenario and coming off a heavy loss last week.

"So they were really strong in front of a full crowd. I just think we didn't get a chance in the second half for some reason."

Leeds head coach Brian McDermott said it had taken a huge effort from his side to seal a two point victory over Saints at Headingley for the second time in two months.

“I don’t think I’ve ever not been proud of our players, but I’m just extremely proud to be their coach tonight," he said.

“I don’t know where we got that second-half from.

“I thought Saints were great. They were beating us off the deck in that first half consistently and we never really got a grip of their quick play-the-balls. We had far too many play-the-ball losses.

“I could only imagine that it would get worse in the second half because we made far too many errors that took too much defensive juice out of us.

“We didn’t change anything tactically at half time, just one or two adjustments, but we had to go out there and roll our sleeves up and get ready for some hard work. And they did that and continued to do that until the dying seconds.

“We should have scored a few more tries but sometimes the game is not like that.

“I thought it was a great game of rugby league played by two teams who were as committed as anything.

“It felt like a final. We’ve had a few games like that, especially at Headingley, where they throw everything at us and we throw everything at them.

“Saints were great defensively and we found it really hard to break them down.”