Leeds Rhinos U16 18 Wigan Warriors U16 18

Leeds Rhinos Scholarship side and their counterparts from Wigan Warriors battled out an entertaining 18-18 draw at AMT Headingley with winger Wade Smith scoring twice for the Rhinos, including one in the final minutes to level the scores. 

The Rhinos opened the scoring after seven minutes following a brilliant break by full back Sam Oldroyd. Running from deep inside his own half, he broke through the line and race clear of the defenders to cross half way before eventually being brought down 15m from the Wigan line. Leeds kept the ball alive and earned a repeat set and were rewarded for their patience when the ball was moved wide and centre Sonny Hetherington timed his pass to the winger Smith to score in the corner. 

Leeds doubled their lead after 12 minutes when Hetherington this time finished off himself with a powerful run near the line. 

The Rhinos then made it 12-0 after 16 minutes with their third try. This time it was the forwards who did the damage with some great interplay down the middle of the field and replacement Will Mathers was in support to take the return pass and then race clear of the covering defence to score. Having missed the previous two efforts, half back Seth Marchant was unable to add the conversion to give the home side a well deserved 14-0 lead.

The WIgan players however showed great spirit to get back into the game before half time, punishing Leeds for errors with the ball. Harrison Oakes went over first of all before Finlay Davies try made it 14-8 at half time. 

Wigan struck first at the start of the second half with a try in the South West corner before they took the lead for the first time in the game after 56 minutes. 

The remainder of the second half was a close affair with both teams putting in some big efforts on defence and attack. Leeds finally hit back with four minutes to go when Smith found the smallest of gaps to touch down in the North East corner. Marchant was unfortunate to see his touchline conversion go the wrong side of the near post but the draw was a fair reflection of a good contest between the sides.