SAINTS boss Nathan Brown pointed to defensive lapses, poor ball control and a lack of fluency in attack for his team's cup exit.

For the fifth match in succession Saints made an error from a kick off - and although they withstood that initial pressure, they found themselves under the pump defensively.

Although they did the hard graft, they were then let down by lapses which Leeds exploited.

Brown said: "Once again we started our first set with a dropped ball and had to defend our try line for a fair period.

"I thought defensively we handled them pretty well until that try before half time which was pretty crucial.

"The reality is when you play Leeds your defence has to be good for 80 minutes. If you have one play off or someone makes a bad read then the speed of McGuire and those blokes they have around them are hard to scramble against.

"We made a few bad reads and they punished us for it.

Saints' attack was disappointing, as was their kicking game which in contrast to their counterparts asked few questions and rarely, if ever, forced a repeat set.

"We let ourselves down with that attack, our flow wasn't right, and that was disappointing.

"At 20-12 it was quite a decent contest, three tries to two and probably where the game was at. We had two or three good ball sets and good ball attack. Their defence is very good and that is why they are where they are in the table.

"We also needed to kick better. They had repeat sets and we didn't. Credit to them though, that's why that group of players have won all those trophies; their game management is pretty good. Ours was so-so."