Leeds Rhinos vs Warrington Wolves Review

Pride and Frustration. These are the two overwhelming emotions the fans congregated in the south stand were feeling after the game on Saturday as Leeds Rhinos lost 22-20 to Warrington. Pride at the fact that the team came together and nearly pulled off a win despite the double blow of losing two players to injury as well as playing all but 16 minutes of the game with reduced numbers. The frustration comes from some 50/50 calls that went against the Rhinos and led to Warrington points.

First of all let's start by talking about the elephant in the room, the refereeing decisions made in this game. After watching back the highlights of the game, it is still a 50/50 whether James Bentley was deserving of his red card, and subsequent 4 game ban. On one hand there was clear contact to the head after a frankly reckless and out of control tackle. However, there is the mitigation of Gareth Widdop falling as Bentley committed to the tackle and therefore no chance as a defender for Bentley to lower his tackle height

 

On the other hand, much to the indignation of the crowd around me I do think it was right that Oliver Holmes only received a yellow card. Although it looked just as bad in real time, the contact he made was to the neck and not directly to the head of the player. In light of the growing concern around CTE of former collision sport players, it is key that player safety is number one when any rules around punishing defenders are made. What is important now though is that a precedent has been set by this game and must be followed throughout the year.  The issue will come for fans  if the laws regarding punishment of high tackles are not applied consistently across all super league games.

 

What many Leeds fans do have an issue with though are the two or three decisions missed by Chris Kendall and his team that directly affected by the outcome of the game. Firstly, a  knock on in the play the ball by Peter Mata'utia was missed by the touch judge and referee in the leadup to Warringtons second try just before the half time break.  Secondly, for the game levelling try the final pass to Conor Wrench was clearly forward. These decisions that were missed can not be excused as they almost certainly led to the demise of Leeds on Saturday.

That isn't to say that Warrington wouldn't have scored the requisite points anyway, and if that was the case Leeds fans could be more accepting of losing the game. 

 

It must also be said that Stefan Ratchford deserves to take enormous credit from the game. He made two outstanding kicks from the touch line to bring Warrington to within an unconverted try of Leeds and then to edge ahead going into the closing minutes of the game.

 

Looking back on the performance on Saturday, there are a number of positives to take away. Firstly, as mentioned in my season preview the forward pack carried on from where they left off and stepped up in both defence and attack to drive the team downfield and also limit Warringtons metre making through the middle. 

 

Off the back of the platform created by the forwards Aidan Sezer, Richie Myler and Kruise Leeming (once he had to move into the halves) were a constant threat to the Warrington defence. Sezer impressed on debut and without doing anything spectacular, was able to organise our attack well and display a dangerous short kicking game that almost led to try scoring moments. 

After receiving the captaincy this season, Kruise Leeming once again showed why he should be in serious contention for an England spot. While playing at hooker he was consistently looking to exploit any gaps in the defence and was a menace to the opposition running from dummy half. And then after the unfortunate injury to Richie Myler, he was also able to move into the halves and be just as influential. His kick to the corner that led to Ash Handley's try was perfectly weighted for the Leeds flyer to dot it down just before the dead ball line. 

 

Short of naming every player in every position individually, the outside backs also had an impressive afternoon. David Fusistua before his injury impressed me massively on debut. He looked confident under the highball and always broke the gain line on kick return. His prowess under the high ball nearly led to a debut try but he was just unable to pluck Aiden Sezer's kick out of the air. Tom Briscoe should also be commended for ably deputising for Harry Newman in the centre before moving back out to the wing after the Fusitua injury. His flying catch on the halfway line was a particular highlight of the game.

 

Although it was a largely positive performance, there were a couple of negatives to the day. Firstly and most obvious was the discipline of the team. No matter your opinion of the validity of the red card shown to James Bentley, he shouldn't have allowed the referee to have to make a decision. Fans would have hoped that Bentley would have learnt from the disciplinary issues he had last year, however so far it is clear that this may not be the first time that one of my match reviews is discussing a James Bentley ban. Brad Dwyer was perhaps unfortunate to also spend time on the sideline after a late challenge but his subsequent one match ban could see a return to the first team for Corey Johnson next week

 

Despite there being mitigating factors (how ironic) the Rhinos edge defence once again was  at times far too easy to exploit, especially for the first try. After an early period of dominance it took just three passes and an albeit excellent offload for Josh Charnley to make a break on the outside of David Fusitua after Connor Wrench broke the tackle of Liam Sutcliffe. The other tries conceded can be somewhat excused due to the lack of numbers and fatigue caused by being down in numbers and also having two less interchanges because of injuries to Richie Myler and David Fusitu'a. Even so both George Williams and Gareth Widdop were able to exert their dominance on the game and skip to the outside of defenders almost unchallenged to exploit gaps in the Leeds defence. 

 

Short of coming away from the game with a win, there is nothing more fans could have asked for from the 17 players who took to the field on Saturday. The effort levels and application in defence and attack can do nothing but fill fans with optimism for the rest of the season. It is important now though that the intensity that this game was played sets the standard for the rest of the year and becomes the default for how the team performs. 

 

Looking ahead to the next game against Wigan Warriors, I see this as season opener 2.0. Fingers crossed as long as there are no injuries or cards, it will be the first chance to see how this team will perform with 13 players and also the starting halfback combination of Aiden Sezer and Blake Austin. 

 

A more in depth review and score prediction can be found in my preview for the Wigan Warriors game.

Thanks for reading and more importantly remember All Leeds Aren't We