| Warrington (0) 6 |
| Tries: Ashton Goal: Ratchford |
| Leeds (16) 22 |
| Tries: Walters, Handley 2, Myler Goals: Martin 3 |
Leeds Rhinos made it back-to-back wins to boost their Super League play-off hopes with a 22-6 win at Warrington.
Second-placed Wolves lost for the fifth time in six games and could tumble down the standings this weekend.
Rhinos, now within two points of the top six, hit Wire with three tries in the first 15 minutes, one from prop Sam Walters and two from wing Ash Handley.
Wolves did pull one back through Matty Ashton’s 13th of the season but Richie Myler’s try sealed victory.
The hosts were booed off after just their second home defeat of the season.
Leeds flew out of the blocks and stand-off Blake Austin’s superb line break on halfway paved the way for Aiden Sezer to send Walters through under the posts after six minutes, adding to his two-try performance last week.
Rhyse Martin added the extras but missed another opportunity after wing Handley dotted down in the corner following a Myler pass in the 10th minute.
Handley – who scored a hat-trick for England at the same stadium in April – grabbed his second five minutes later after Cameron Smith’s miss-pass and quick hands from Martin left him in acres of space.
Boos rang round the Jungle before Martin’s boot made it 16-0.
The Wire were reduced to 12 men when Sam Kasiano was sin-binned for a shoulder charge midway through the half, but they managed to hold firm without him, though a fourth Leeds try from Austin was disallowed for obstruction in the build-up.
James McDonnell produced a fine tackle to deny Ashton a breakaway try following an interception near his own line but the Wolves looked largely toothless in attack.
They had led 30-0 at the interval on their way to a 42-10 win over the Rhinos in Round One but were scoreless at the break and it was not until 18 minutes from time that Ashton dotted down his 13th Super League try of the season in the corner after slick hands from Stefan Ratchford.
Ratchford kicked a fine goal to bring the Wire within two scores but Myler came back to haunt his former club as he finished off a flowing team move started by Sam Lisone 11 minutes from time, with Martin adding another goal.
Leeds won nine of their past 11 matches on their way to the play-offs last season and this victory took them to within six points of Warrington, who remain second for now.
Leeds Rhinos prop Mikolaj Oledzki told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra:
“One week you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel and two weeks later you’re riding the high wave.
“Rohan [Smith, Rhinos head coach] always says when it’s good, it’s not that good and when it’s bad, it’s not that bad. We just keep building every week and improving the little things which will take us one step further.
“We don’t like to do it the easy way. After last year it might become a habit – hopefully not because it’s a bit stressful when it gets to the end of the season. We didn’t start the year the best but we knew the answers were in the room.
“We haven’t been playing our best but the last two weeks the things we have been working on have really come to fruition.
“Hopefully we can keep climbing the ladder – though we don’t spend too long looking at the table. If we can keep playing good rugby the rest will take care of itself.”
Warrington head coach Daryl Powell told Sky Sports:
“I’m disappointed. I’ll be thinking about it for the next week, that’s the way coaching is.
“I just thought Leeds got us early, then we got the sin-bin and we never really played to our potential. We battled hard and started to play a bit in the last 10 minutes but we’ve got to find more of that in ourselves. Everything we’re doing has got to be better.
“If we’re saying how do we help the players, well recruitment-wise we’re looking, because we’ve lost two players and haven’t replaced them. That’s been tough for us.
“We’re in a bit of a downer at the moment and we’ve got to work our way out of it. We’re not defending the way we need to defend.
“That’s hard in the middle of the season because the boys are bashed up and at the moment I’m not able to rotate or rest anybody or drop anybody because of a lack of form – that’s tough.”
Warrington: Thewlis, Russell, Mata’utia, Ratchford, Ashton, Dufty, Drinkwater; Dudson, Walker, Vaughan, Currie, Holroyd, Philbin.
Interchanges: Kasiano, Wrench, Walker, Bullock.
Leeds: Myler; Fusitua, Martin, McDonald, Handley; Austin, Sezer; Oledzki, O’Connor, Walters, Bentley, McDonnell, Smith.
Interchanges: Lisone, Holroyd, Johnson, Donaldson.
Referee: Chris Kendall.
