Wigan Warriors 38 Leeds Rhinos 0

It was a night to forget at the Brick Community Stadium as Leeds Rhinos suffered a 38-0 defeat to Wigan Warriors in the penultimate game of the regular Betfred Super League season.

Seven tries from six different scorers saw Matt Peet’s Wigan side take a step closer to retaining the League Leaders’ Shield, whilst the defeat saw Leeds’ hopes of a top-six finish take a blow ahead of their trip to Hull KR in the final game of the campaign.

One change for the Rhinos coming into the fixture saw Lachie Miller miss only his second game of the season as the full back was unavailable with a hamstring injury. Alfie Edgell, who scored four tries on his previous outing against Hull FC, was moved to full back in Miller’s place, whilst winger Riley Lumb played his first Super League minutes since May on the wing.

It was a special game for duo Jarrod O’Connor and Matt Frawley, who played their 100^th career game against the Warriors, whilst hooker Andy Ackers played his 100^th Super League game too.

Shaky opening minutes for Leeds saw the Warriors get out of the traps quickly to record the opening try on five minutes. Liam Marshall had threatened with a half break with the Warriors’ first touch of the ball, but luckily for Leeds, Jake Wardle was unable to hold Jai Field’s pass as the home side tried to test the Rhinos edge. The centre didn’t have to wait long to get another scoring opportunity as Harry Smith’s pinpoint kick was pushed back into the field of play by Marshall and into Wardle’s grasp to allow the centre to finish in the corner.

The Warriors’ advantage was extended to two tries as Bevan French was the beneficiary of a break by Kaide Ellis as the half back supported his team mate and slid under the posts to take the score to 10-0.

The touchline denied Marshall a try as Wigan continued to flex their muscles, and Abbas Miski was unable to hold onto Field’s pass thanks to a defensive intervention from Harry Newman as the Rhinos rallied.

Despite the scoreline, one of Leeds’ biggest scoring chances of the game came off the back of a break by substitute James Bentley, who’s offload bounced off Wigan’s Ellis and into the hands of Frawley. Shifting the ball out wide, Newman went search for a hole, only to force a grubber kick which came back off a Wigan man and was knocked on by Brodie Croft, ending the attack.

The Rhinos continued showed plenty of fight to grapple back into the contest, but the home side unleashed Super League’s top try scorer Marshall, who found his 25^th try of the season as he took an offload from Wardle to dot down in the corner. Adam Keighran couldn’t convert as the Warriors went into the break 14-0 up.

The second half got off to a similar start for the Cherry and Whites as they added a fourth try on 45 minutes. Back-to-back penalties forced the Rhinos straight into defending their own try line, including a late hit by Bentley on French, and Wigan made the possession count as Ellis forced his way over to take the score to 20 points.

The pressure continued on Leeds as Edgell was forced in-goal off the back of French’s last tackle kick, and then Frawley was picked up by referee Liam Moore for being offside, but thankfully his opposite number Harry Smith came up short of the try line. Wardle was also pulled up from scoring his second try for an obstruction call against Tyler Dupree.

Lumb brought some light to the game for Leeds as the young winger broke the Warriors line to set the Rhinos up in a strong position, only for the last tackle kick to be taken in-goal by Miski. Switching defence into attack, Wigan pushed downfield and French pulled off a well-weighted kick and Miski was there to claim it and score.

Keighran added his name to the growing scorers list as the game entered the final ten minutes – the centre collecting a dab kick over the top from Smith to be Wigan’s sixth try scorer. French got the game’s closing say though as the man of the match chased down a kick ahead and beat Edgell and Croft to the ball to slide over the try line and close the game out. Keighran added his fifth conversion of the night to make the final score 38-0.

Wigan Warriors

1. Jai Field, 2. Abbas Miski, 3. Adam Keighran, 4. Jake Wardle, 5. Liam Marshall, 6. Bevan French, 7. Harry Smith, 8. Ethan Havard, 17. Kruise Leeming, 16. Luke Thompson, 21. Junior Nsemba, 12. Liam Farrell, 13. Kaide Ellis

Subs: 10. Liam Byrne, 15. Patrick Mago, 19. Tyler Dupree, 27. Tom Forber

Tries: Wardle (5), French (7, 79), Marshall (37), Ellis (44), Miski (60), Keighran (70)

Goals: Keighran 5/7

Rhinos

29. Alfie Edgell, 2. David Fusitu’a, 4. Paul Momirovski, 3. Harry Newman, 33. Riley Lumb, 6. Brodie Croft, 7. Matt Frawley, 17. Justin Sangare, 9. Andy Ackers, 8. Mikolaj Oledzki, 16. James McDonnell, 12. Rhyse Martin, 13. Cameron Smith (C)

Subs: 11. James Bentley, 14. Jarrod O’Connor, 25. James Donaldson, 15. Sam Lisone (18th Man – 30. Tom Nicholson-Watton)