Leeds book their place at Old Trafford with a commanding performance against Wigan at Headingley which saw Marcus Bai score his third hat trick in his debut season and set up a mouthwatering all Yorkshire Grand Final.

Papua New Guinea international Bai haul also included the 100th try of his career, as the Rhinos held off a brief fightback from Wigan to reach their first Grand Final since 1998.

Leeds were in confident mood from the start and demonstrated their confidence on nine minutes when ignoring a simple kick at goal after Farrell was penalised for holding down in the tackle.

Instead they opted to maintain the incessant pressure on the visitors’ line and it paid off with McGuire and Dave Furner working the ball out wide for Ali Lauitiiti to send Bai over for his 24th try of the season.

Clever kicks from McGuire and Kevin Sinfield kept the Warriors pinned inside their own half and it was no surprise when Leeds extended their lead in the 22nd minute when Walker took advantage of extra numbers on the right to force his way past Kevin Brown for his side’s second try.

Sinfield’s second successful conversion made it 12-0 but the best was yet to come with one of the tries of the season.
There was nothing on when full-back Richard Mathers fielded Danny Orr’s kick behind his own line but Wigan failed to move up in a line and he managed to free the alert Bai, who in turn found McGuire in space to finish off the spectacular 100-metre move with his 38th try of the year.

It was 22-0 in the 33rd minute when Mathers dived over the line after Keith Senior had been held short but Wigan gave themselves a glimmer of hope just before the break when Farrell raced onto Orr’s grubber kick for a try he also converted.

The Wigan fightback gained further momentum when substitute Luke Robinson jinked his way over for an opportunist try straight from dummy half five minutes into the second half.

Farrell’s second conversion cut Leeds’ lead to 10 points and they had chances to make further inroads.
Loose forward Sean O’Loughlin was bundled into the touch-in-goal area by Walker and Calderwood and when, Adrian Lam raced through a hole in the Rhinos defence, the supporting Danny Tickle lost the ball in Bai’s crunching tackle.

As the Warriors kept up the pressure, Leeds began to fall off the tackles and there was another let-off for the home side when prop Craig Smith reached the line but failed to ground the ball under the tackle of Walker.
It was Wigan’s last chance to get back in the game as Leeds finished with a flourish.

Bai went in for his third try on 71 minutes and prop Ryan Bailey grabbed his second try of the season seven minutes later, which allowed the departing Dave Furner to complete the scoring on his last appearance at Headingley.