Super League: Wakefield Trinity 18-20 Leeds Rhinos
- Published
Betfred Super League |
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Wakefield (12) 18 |
Tries: Kershaw, Westerman, Senior Goals: Hampshire 3 |
Leeds (14) 20 |
Tries: Handley (2), Sutcliffe, Dwyer Goals: Sutcliffe, Martin |
Ash Handley's double helped Leeds keep their play-off hopes alive as they avenged Thursday's defeat to Wakefield.
Lee Kershaw's interception try put Trinity ahead, but Handley crossed twice and teed up Liam Sutcliffe for a narrow 14-12 half-time lead after Joe Westerman's close-range reply.
Innes Senior collected Ryan Hampshire's cross-field kick to put Trinity 18-14 up.
But Brad Dwyer's close-range finish and Rhyse Martin's goal sealed the win.
Wakefield started quickly, buoyed by their 30-6 win in the reverse fixture, but Leeds struck with their first possession in the hosts' half as Liam Sutcliffe evaded the defence and sent stand-in skipper Handley away to cross.
As Leeds threatened a second score, Kershaw intercepted a looping pass and sprinted 80 metres to level, and after a spell of pressure Wakefield went ahead when Joe Westerman bumped through two challenges to score from close range.
Rhinos hit back with another long-range effort as Handley collected a loose ball deep inside his own half and raced away, wriggling free of Ben Jones-Bishop's cover tackle before teeing up Sutcliffe.
And after former Rhinos winger Jones-Bishop and Jack Croft wasted a golden chance for Wakefield, Handley finished a flowing move down the left involving Bodene Thompson and Sutcliffe to put Leeds 14-12 up at the break.
Alex Walker held up Jarrod O'Connor over the line as Leeds looked to extend their lead, but after Harry Bowes was inches short of a debut try, Senior put Trinity back in front, outjumping Luke Briscoe to Hampshire's crossfield kick to score his third try against Leeds in four days.
Wakefield defended valiantly to repel mounting pressure, but Dwyer eventually drove over from close range to level and Martin nailed the decisive conversion.
Second-bottom Trinity turned down a long-range penalty late on, opting to kick to touch and go for a fourth straight victory, but fifth-placed Leeds held out to improve their win percentage to 58.82, with Catalans, in the final play-off spot, on 66%.
Wakefield head coach Chris Chester: "We threw it away. We did a lot of good work in the first half, the frustrating part is that we didn't really make them work hard for any of their tries.
"Considering what both clubs have gone though, I thought it was a great effort from both teams. The game didn't have a great deal of quality, but you saw two teams fighting really hard.
"I thought Harry Bowes was fantastic for us on his debut. He was a real ball of energy."
Leeds head coach Richard Agar on Handley: "It's a little bit unusual for a winger to captain a team but I knew it would inspire him.
"It's an accolade he's earned. He's a part of our senior group who has come on in leaps and bounds.
"He leads by his actions and I thought he carried us on our backs for long periods today."
Wakefield Trinity: A. Walker; Kershaw, Senior, Croft, Jones-Bishop; Hampshire, Miller; Green, K. Wood, Arona, Westerman, Tanginoa, Aydin
Interchanges: Bowes, Bailey, Fifita, Battye.
Leeds Rhinos: Walker; L , Evans, L Sutcliffe, Handley; McLelland, Lui; Seumanufagai, Dwyer, Harrison, , Walters, Thompson, Donaldson
Interchanges: Oledzki, Leeming, Martin, O'Connor.