Wigan Warriors vs Leeds Rhinos Review

After the high of the first game of the season, Leeds fans were brought down to earth after the Rhinos succumbed to a 34-12 defeat to the Wigan Warriors. Despite scoring the opening try, Leeds conceded 28 unanswered points which sealed the fate of the team and left them winless after the opening two rounds of the season.

The way the game started it would be hard to convince fans that there would be a 22 point margin between the teams by the close of play. Leeds had the upper hand within the first ten minutes and showed the intensity in defence and attack that was seen against Warrington in round one. This hard work paid off and after ten minutes  Blake Austin scored a try he almost trademarked during his debut year in super league, stepping inside the over-committing defender of Liam Farrell before shrugging off the tackle of Jai Field.  Leeds had other chances to further extend the lead including a brilliant break from Lian Tindall who would have scored if not for the covering tackle of Jai Field.

Wigan hit back on the 25 minute mark with a freakish try. A ball intended to hit Jake Bibby running a lead line hit him in the torso before it flicked off his heel downfield. Jai Field, as any good fullback should, was following up on the play and was able to pick up the loose ball and run in unopposed under the sticks. The killer blow however, came in the 39th minute when Jai Field crossed for his second try of the game in what was almost a preview of how the second half would play out. John Bateman, crabbing across the right side of the field, broke free of the tackle before offloading once again to Jai Field who broke through a gap in the defence and dotted down under the posts.

The second half of the game couldn’t have been any different from what we saw in last week's games. The solid defence that characterised the teams performance in front of the home fans was almost non-existent. Time after time Wigan players were able to get their hands free in tackles to offload and unsettle the Leeds defence. All but one try in the second half came off the back of an offload during the play. Firstly, John Bateman once again was able to offload in the tackle to Kai Pearce-Paul who, perhaps to the surprise of the Leeds defence, dinked a kick in behind for the on rushing Sam Powell. Straight from the kick off Jai Field carried on his streak of scoring 80m+ tries after Patrick Mago was allowed to offload in the tackle off the back of some frankly soft defence. To compound the misery of Leeds fans, Sam Powell was able to take advantage of a mistake by Jack Walker who spilled a kick in behind he tried to gather. A mixture of rust and the biblical weather, it was an uncharacteristic mistake from the Leeds number one.

 

There was some respite for the travelling Leeds faithful as Matt Prior crashed over for his second try in as many games. Blake Austin could have had his second try if not for running into the famed left shoulder of Tommy Leuluai. This could have been the end of the scoring but on 73rd minute mark Cade Cust was able to offload to the waiting Liam Farrell despite looking like he was wrapped up by three Leeds defenders.

Although this review seems very negative, there were some positives from last Friday’s game. In the first 20 minutes Leeds were able to play at a level of  intensity that is needed to compete against teams in the top 4, even with five first team players missing. Blake Austin also had an impressive debut performance in the Blue and Amber. As well as scoring a try he was able to engineer a number of dangerous attacking opportunities for Leeds and was constantly looking to get his hands on the ball. Liam Tindall also lived up to plaudits given to him last season with another strong performance in the blue and amber. A strong and powerful runner, Tinadll has all the physical attributes that suggests he could be a long term solution in the wing berth. 

Now to the negatives. Fans feared that the team wouldn’t be able to live up to the standards of last week's game and this fear was shown to be more than valid. . Although the loss of five first team players was a blow, this can’t be an excuse for the weak defence shown by the team at the DW stadium. Any young player is taught that allowing an attacker to offload is a recipe for disaster as there is nothing more dangerous than a fractured defensive line. Time after time on Friday night Wigan players were able to get their arms free and find a waiting teammate. Wigan also clearly came with the game plan to ignore the conditions and play expansive rugby, something that seemed to take Leeds by surprise after the more gritty encounters in the previous season.

I’m sure it is very clear to everyone within the team that last Friday’s performance wasn’t good enough. What is most important from now is how the team responds to this setback against a Catalan team that are equally capable of cutting Leeds open like Wigan did. 

The result of this game could be a key indicator of how fans can expect the season to pan out. After Thursday night Leeds will have played three of last season's top four in their opening three games. If Leeds want to push on from last season's fifth place, it is important that Leeds pick up points from the teams expected to finish near the summit of the table. No team wants to rely on other teams slipping up to make up lost ground. 

Thank you for reading and remember all Leeds Aren’t we