Warrington Wolves Reserves 42 Leeds Rhinos Reserves 22

A disappointing afternoon at Victoria Park saw Leeds Rhinos Reserves lose out to Warrington Wolves Reserves 42-22 as a youthful Leeds side suffered their second defeat following the season split.

Coming into the contest high on confidence after a resounding victory over Castleford a week ago, injuries to the Rhinos first team offered some of the club’s Academy players a chance to get extra minutes as Leeds met Warrington in a rematch of last year’s Grand Final matchup. Chev Walker promoted Connor Lawrie and Jack Mears onto the bench for their first Reserves appearances as the duo joined Wade White, Tom Richardson, Harvey Butterworth and Robin Smith, who had already got experience of the competition earlier in the year, and it took one of the Under-18s to get the scoring underway. After going toe to toe with a more experienced Wolves outfit in the early sets, a good attack camped the Rhinos on their opponents’ try line and off the back of good carries by Joe Butterfield and Harley Thomas, Harry Smith’s grubber kick rebounded off the post pads and into the arms of the onrushing White to score.

The Wolves swiftly responded as the home side took control of the contest with four consecutive tries to hold a resounding lead before the break. A knock-on by Hughie Tinkler clearing his own half initially handed Warrington possession within scoring range, and after making their opponents concede a goal line drop out, the pressure told as Daniel Regan and Charlie Walker connected to put Jack Fallon over in the corner.

An error from the restart forced Leeds back onto their own try line again as the home side extended their lead. Wade White’s kick off sailed out of play as the strong wind caught the ball mid-flight to gift Warrington the ball back on halfway. With Isaac Reid and Kian Stanton laying the foundations early in the set, hooker Ben Hartill dropped the ball back inside for Charlie McKler to score the first of two tries.

Jake Thewlis added a third try of the half as the winger connected with a grubber kick for the in-goal area by Pat Irwin to take the home side’s lead to 10 points, but the Rhinos rallied to get more points for themselves. A clever grubber kick from Thomas earned the visitors to Victoria Park back-to-back sets to apply pressure on the Wolves, but it quickly evaporated as the half-back’s pass was intercepted by James Duffy to start a counterattack. Even though Riley Lumb produced a great defensive effort to drag down Thewlis after the winger had supported the initial break, Ewan Smith rolled out of Joe Butterfield’s tackle to score under the posts to make the score 20-6.

With half time looming in, Thewlis had an effort disallowed by referee Liam Breheny as Cameron Cooper’s pass was judged to be forward as the winger scythed his way to the try line. McKler wasn’t denied a second effort himself though; the prop taking Oliver Smart and full back White over the line to extend the Wolves’ lead once again.

Coming out for the second half, Leeds were hampered from the restart as try-scoring Fallon broke the tackle of substitute Butterworth to race away downfield. Luckily for the away side, a good strip tackle by Harry Smith won the ball back, but Lumb was unable to make the change in possession matter on the scoreboard as the side’s top try scorer was forced out of play going for the line.

The second-placed Wolves rose to the challenge as they also missed opportunities to get points. Ewan Smith was halted by desperate Leeds defence as the back rower tried to burrow his way over the line, before Irwin collected his own kick ahead only to lose the ball over the line. Inevitably, the home side did find the half’s first score as halves Irwin and Regan combined for the latter to plant the ball down to get a sixth try for Warrington.

A break by Hartill caught Leeds off-guard as the goal line drop-out conceded at the end of the play led to Ewan Smith scoring his second of the game as the Wolves’ strong showing continued. The Rhinos’ frustrations boiled over but Walker’s team re-aligned to start a fightback despite the scoreboard. A ball strip on Robin Smith saw Leeds probe the Wire try line, and good footwork from Harry Smith saw the Rhinos half-back go back against the grain to score a great effort. Another quick response by the home side cancelled the effort out; Irwin darting to the line to end the contest with 20 minutes to go.

Leeds kept fighting and added two quick tries to their scoreline before the full-time whistle. Jacob Stead grabbed a consolation effort as the back rower hit a good line to force his way over for his first try of the year, before Oliver Smart made a line break to send Mears away for a first Reserves try on his first outing for the side. The match ended on a dull note as Jeremiah Mata’utia was sin-binned for a late hit on Regan. Although Irwin was unable to slot the penalty goal, Warrington took away a 42-22 final score to open up a four-point gap to Leeds in the Reserves standings.

Teams

Wolves

1. Cameron Cooper, 2. Jack Fallon, 3. Charlie Walker, 17. James Duffy, 22. Jake Thewlis, 6. Daniel Regan, 7. Patrick Irwin, 8. Isaac Reid, 9. Ben Hartill, 10. Charlie McKler, 11. Ewan Smith, 12. Kian Stanton, 13. Dan Coop

Subs: Lucas Mulqueeney, James McGuire, Joe Bajae, Logan Raughter (18^th Man – Tommy Rhodes)

Tries: Fallon, McKler x2, Thewlis, E.Smith x2, Regan, Irwin

Goals: Regan 5/8

Penalty Goals: Irwin 0/1

Rhinos

1. Wade White, 2. Callum Webster, 3. Tom Richardson, 4. Ned McCormack, 5. Riley Lumb, 6. Harley Thomas, 7. Harry Smith, 8. Joe Butterfield, 9. Elliott Fox, 10. Jeremiah Mata’utia, 11. Oliver Smart, 12. Jacob Stead, 13. Hughie Tinkler

Subs: 14. Jack Mears, 15. Connor Lawrie, 16. Robin Smith, 17. Harvey Butterworth (18^th Man – Evan Jones)

Tries: White, H.Smith, Stead, Mears

Goals: Thomas 3/4