Leeds Rhinos' greatest moments - the 2015 treble takes second spot
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The Grand Final was in the balance right until the final play as Wigan Warriors mounted a desperate bid to overturn Rhinos’ 22-20 lead, but Brian McDermott’s men held on to complete a clean sweep of domestic trophies.
It was undoubtedly the finest achievement in the club’s history.
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Hide AdRhinos, who had never before beaten Wigan in a major final, became only the third team - after Bradford Bulls and St Helens - to win the Challenge Cup, league leaders’ shield and Super League trophy in the same season.
Only the Challenge Cup, collected after a 50-0 romp against Hull KR at Wembley, was straight-forward.
Leeds squandered a six-point lead on the table and were one play away from finishing second, then trailed 20-16 in the title decider until Josh Walters - only playing because of injuries - became the unlikely hero.
His try with 16 minutes left levelled the scores and the 1,831st and last goal of Kevin Sinfield’s Rhinos career took the trophy to Headingley for the seventh time.
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Hide AdIt was a fairytale exit for Sinfield, Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai who were all playing their final game of rugby league, though Peacock made a brief comeback the following year for Hull KR.
Leeds won all three trophies without injured specialist hooker Paul Aiton.
At Wembley, prop Adam Cuthbertson was named in that role, though Sinfield mainly slotted in at acting-half.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan was another long-term casualty, after being hurt in the Cup semi-final win over St Helens and Stevie Ward suffered a season-ending injury in the last game before the play-offs.
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Hide AdRhinos looked out on their feet several times towards the end of the year and seemed to be heading for defeat to St Helens in the play-offs before a 40-20 kick by Sinfield got them back in the game.
Old Trafford capped Leeds’ best-ever season and the adversity Rhinos had to overcome only made their success more special.
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