Leeds Rhinos 48 Leigh Leopards 30

Leeds and Leigh had not met for over a year but it was well worth the wait as both teams produced some brilliant attacking rugby in a 48-30 victory for Brad Arthur’s side including two tries apiece for Kallum Watkins and Harry Newman and a losing hat trick from Leigh’s Keanan Brand.

The game saw the third and fourth placed teams in the table clash and it more than lived up to its pre-match billing.

Leeds got off to a perfect start when they opened the scoring after just five minutes. Having had the better of the early exchanges, they made it count when Jake Connor produced a stuttering run to wrong foot the visitors defence before sliding a low kick through for Kallum Watkins to chase through and score. Connor converted the try.

Leigh have been one of the most attractive attacking teams in Super League this season and they showed exactly why with some sensational offload and support play. They hit back just four minutes later. The chance was initially stopped by a great man and ball tackle from Alfie Edgell on David Armstrong after an interception in midfield. But the Leopards kept their cool and loose forward Isaac Liu powered his way over. Gareth O’Brien added the conversion to level the scores.

The see-saw nature of the game continued after that as Leeds were quickest to react to a loose ball. Leigh dropped possession and Harry Newman reacted fastest to scoop up the ball, he broke clear and timed his pass to perfection as Lachlan Miller came steaming on the ball on half way. No one was going to stop the full back from there and he claimed the try. Connor again on target with the conversion.

Edgell, who had returned to the side in place of Riley Lumb on the wing, was unlucky to not get the Rhinos third try of the night with a brilliant finish in the corner. The on field decision was No Try and the video referee adjudged there was not enough evidence to overturn the call, it was a tough call on the young winger after a huge effort under pressure.

After Miller had spilled a high kick, Leigh were once again clinical and scored their second try when Brand finished near the North Stand touchline. This time O’Brien was unable to convert and the Rhinos still lead 12-10 after 22 minutes.

The Rhinos then produced a sensational end to the first half with some bruising defence and breathtaking attack. Croft was denied a try when Newman jumped highest to knock down Connor’s high kick but was unable to knock it backwards.

Co-captain Cameron Smith then showed his natural flair as he juggled a pass before regathering and spotting that the visitors defence was flat footed and raced through a gap to score. Jake Connor’s conversion gave the Rhinos a 18-10 lead.

With 90 seconds left in the half, Leeds’ defence was still strong and they took Leigh centre Niu into touch and from the final set of the half, Brodie Croft took the ball to the line before floating a wide pass out to Newman to score. Connor made it a perfect four from four with the boot as the half time hooter sounded to give his side a 24-10 lead at the break.

The pace of the game did not let up after the break. The Rhinos had a brilliant chance inside two minutes when Miller broke clear on half way, he found Smith in support but McIntosh came up with the try saving tackle. It was Leigh however who struck first with a brilliant try when Ben McNamara chipped ahead, it was caught and offloaded back inside to Gareth O’Brien to score. He was unable to convert his own try.

Leeds responded with two tries of their own. The first was well worked between Brodie Croft, who chipped to the corner on the last tackle, and Ryan Hall, who avoided the attempts to block his run, before jumping highest to bat the ball back into the arms of Newman, who scored his scored his second try of the game. Connor added the conversion.

The Rhinos scored their best try of the night after 55 minutes with Connor the architect again, putting Watkins away on half way. The England star raced clear, dummied to Miller in support and rounded O’Brien to score. Connor added the conversion to make it 36-14.

Leigh continued to throw everything at the Rhinos and they got their reward with two tries from Brand to complete his hat trick. O’Brien was only able to convert one of the tries.

In between the two Brand tries, Leeds got a seventh try through Tom Holroyd as he went over from close range.

With six minutes to go, the biggest smile of the night was on the face of Mikolaj Oledzki who ended a two year try drought to cross for the Rhinos. Connor made a perfect eight from eight with his kicking on the night.

Leigh got a late try back through Umyla Hanley, converted by O’Brien but the Rhinos were good value for their 48-30 victory.