Leeds Rhinos Reserves 30 Wigan Warriors Reserves 40

Leeds Rhinos Reserves suffered back to back defeats in the competition as Wigan Warriors Reserves came away from AMT Headingley with a 40-30 win.

Tony Smith welcomed Riley Lumb back to action as the winger got his first minutes since the first team’s win over London back in May. Winger Alfie Johnson also got his first minutes since suffering an injury in June. Smith also put his faith in a number of his Under-18s Academy players, who gained extra minutes in the Reserves team. Jacob Stead and Presley Cassell both kept their places in the squad, with Cassell moving into the starting 13, and Kai Taylor-Smith returned at full back.

A lively start saw both sides get on the scoreboard in the first minutes of the game. Back-to-back penalties from Wigan helped the Rhinos downfield for the first chance of the game, where Jack Sinfield and Harrison Gilmore both went close. Not panicking, Leeds got their reward for being patient as Sinfield, Fergus McCormack and Presley Cassell combined to find Luis Roberts, who was running a good line to score.

Wigan took little time to respond through Jacob Douglas. Charlie Yeomans inspired his side as he sliced through a gap in the Leeds defence, but as he fed full back Noah Hodkinson, Roberts did well to track back and tackle the Wigan man. With a broken defence in front of them, a wide pass from Farrimond found Douglas, who had an easy finish.

Although they had a slender lead, the Rhinos continued to go blow for blow with the Warriors as the half progressed. A ball strip on Harrison Gilmore saw the Rhinos test again, but Ashton Robinson was agonisingly short as he hit a crash ball with pace.  Wigan replied with a break from Tom Forber but on the last tackle, Douglas was held up this time by good work from Alfie Johnson.

As the sun faded and rain began to fall around AMT Headingley, both sides continued to battle, but it was Wigan who broke through on the scoreboard as Douglas got his second try on 23 minutes. The game got worse for the Rhinos too as McCormack suffered a suspected hamstring injury in the build up to the Wigan try, forcing the Rhinos to bring a change in the halves.

Pressure continued to mount on Leeds as an accidental offside call had the Rhinos defending their own line for consecutive sets. Harvie Hill and Forber came closest to getting the ball down, but resilient defence from the home side held both

Two big chances for the Rhinos saw Kieran Hudson break free to put Leeds in a strong position, only for substitute Shane Tuohey to be called for a double movement by the referee. A mistake from Wigan winger Reagan Sumner also invited the home side to attack the try line again, but a knock on from Taylor-Smith brough the attack to an end.

Off the back of the mistake, Noah Hodkinson finished a long-range effort that saw the full-back run 60 metres to give his side a ten-point lead at the break with Farrimond’s conversion.

A jittery start to the second half saw both teams suffer knock-ons as the ball continued to be turned over. Wigan settled back into their rhythm quickly to get back on the scoreboard though as Trent Kelly-Duffy hit a hole to extend the lead to 22-6 after 47 minutes.

The Warriors continued to press, Lowe breaking free from a knock on by Tuohey, but luckily for Leeds, O’Loughlin couldn’t hold Yeoman’s pass and Roberts brought it away for Leeds. Hill also found space to move through into the backfield, but couldn’t find Farrimond with his offload., but after continuing to knock on the door, three consecutive tries saw Forber collect his own kick to score and Hill record a double to take the game out of the Rhinos’ hands.

Consolation efforts from Leeds saw Roberts get his second try as the game entered its final ten minutes, and Presley Cassell also found the try line twice in the final five minutes to close the scoreline further. Sinfield also added an effort as the half back took a scrum feed and put his head down for the line to make the final score 40-30.

Rhinos Reserves

1. Kai Taylor-Smith, 5. Riley Lumb, 3. Luis Roberts, 4. Jack Smith, 2. Alfie Johnson, 6. Fergus McCormack, 7. Jack Sinfield, 22. Kieran Hudson, 9. Mason Corbett, 10. Ashton Robinson, 11. Harrison Gilmore, 12. Jacob Stead, 13. Presley Cassell

Subs: 14. Shane Tuohey, 15. Dylan Proud, 16. Bobby Hartley, 17. Jack Iceton (18^th Man – Oliver Smart)

Tries: Roberts (3, 67), Cassell (71, 79), Sinfield (76)

Goals: Sinfield 5/5

Warriors Reserves

1. Noah Hodkinson, 2. Reagan Sumner, 3. Finlay Yeomans, 4. Nathan Lowe, 5. Jacob Douglas, 6. Charlie Yeomans, 7. Jack Farrimond, 8. Kian McDermott, 9. Tom Forber, 10. Harvie Hill, 11. George O’Loughlin, 12. Lukas Mason, 13. Taylor Kerr

Subs: 14. Thomas Ratchford, 15. Joshua Cartwright, 16. Kalum Rathbone, 18. Trent Kelly-Duffy (18^th Man – Dylan Kelly-Duffy)

Tries:  Douglas (6, 23), Hodkinson (35), T.Kelly-Duffy (46), Forber (59), Hill (61, 65)

Goals: Farrimond 6/7