By Guy Harvey

The Reserves were back on the road making the short trip through Yorkshire to Wakefield. Looking at getting back to winning ways after a tough draw last time out at home to St Helens. The side included the returning Toby Warren and Riley Lumb from recent injuries with plenty of confidence among the team. With the temperature reaching twenty seven degrees Celsius before a ball had been kicked both teams had accepted it was going to be a very tough game.

It would be the Rhinos that score first, all be it surprisingly after Leeds were penalised for a ball steal, Trinity kicked for touch from the penalty and began their set deep in Leeds territory but after a loose pass and quick reactions from Rhinos centre Charlie Venables to collect the ball and race almost the length of the field to score the try, converted by Hooley. Rhinos started to find their feet in the game quickly and would score next with winger Neil Tchamambe stretching out in the corner to score after a pass from the middle bobbled along the grass to the waiting Tchamambe and despite the Trinity defenders would still be able to reach out to score. Leeds would score again almost immediately after, again making ground up the full length of the field and with the help of a back to one call from the referee, Leeds on Wakefields try line would hand the ball to prop Freddie Brennan-Jones crashing his way through the trinity defence to score and Luke Hooley converting again keeping his record at a hundred percent. Wakefield began to have some dominance in the game for a while with repeat sets and forcing a goal line drop out. 

The Trinity would cross the try line under the posts but with great defence from the away sides middle men the referee would blow his whistle to call knock on. With the ball back in their possession the Rhinos would break Wakefield’s defensive line for a second time but this time would be tackled just short of the Wakefield try line. And with a penalty given would use the new set to look for gaps in the home sides line, eventually Luke Hooley turning goal kicker to try scorer for Leeds’ next try and again converting his own try. Wakefield would finally get on the scoreboard forcing an error from Leeds deep in their own half and from the resulting scrum would play the ball out wide where Tom Lineham was waiting with space ahead of him to score his first of the game which was also converted by Robbie Butterworth.

Leeds would respond before half time though after superb kick by Luke Hooley restarting the game from half way would force a goal line drop out, and after using a few tackles went to the left flank to find Charlie Venables who would score a superb solo effort try with great footwork agility and speed to go through the Wakefield defence with ease to score his second of the game. Leeds weren’t done there however with seconds remaining on the clock Kai Morgan noticed that the full back had moved into the defensive line and so put over a delicate chip and Luke Hooley reading the play well would be quickest to the ball for the easy walk home under the posts and score his second of the game which he also converted on the hooter sending the teams in at half time with the score at 6 – 36. 

The second half would be a lot tighter than the first however, for many reasons though including the soaring temperatures which were undoubtedly having a huge effect on every player. Cleverly Leeds kicked off and went with the short kick and regained possession catching Wakefield cold but the home side responded well in defence and forced the knock on to gain back the ball and they used the opportunity well finishing with Tom Lineham crossing for his second try of the game squeezing through in the corner. The Rhinos would respond well though and score in the corner also through the returning Riley Lumb using great footwork and balance to grab the try. The Rhinos were again finding their rhythm in the game getting quick play the balls allowing for Alfie Edgell to have space to run and beat the defence and score.

As Leeds were getting back on top of the game Wakefield would score again against the run of play breaking Leeds’ defensive line through Ethan Wood who would race from forty metres out to score despite Luke Hooley’s efforts to stop him almost on the try line. With twenty minutes remaining you’d of been agreed with in thinking there was many more points to be scored however that wouldn’t be the case until the final seconds of the game which saw Will Shaw score a try after running the ball from the play the ball straight at the defence and just as the tackle was about to be made an audacious spin from Shaw would see him evade any defender to cross for the score which was converted by Kai Morgan to seal a 14 – 50 win for the away side.

The Reserves are next in action on Friday 23^rd June with a 17:30 kick off at Headingley Stadium facing Huddersfield Giants as a curtain raiser for the first team game involving the same fixture.

Wakefield Trinity

1. Edward Hunter
   
2. Thomas Delaney
   
3. Samuel Kavanagh
   
4. Oliver Pratt
   
5. Thomas Lineham
   
6. Charlie Abraham
   
7. Robbie Butterworth
   
8. Jordan Schofield
   
9. Joshua Phillips
   
10. Isaac Shaw
    
11. Ethan Wood
    
12. Luke Mearns
    
13. Jack Toulson
14. Harvey Smith
    
15. Freddie Lambert
    
16. Cain Staveley-Carr
    
17. Dane Windrow
    
18. Charles Tetley

Leeds Rhinos

1. Luke Hooley
2. Neil Tchamambe
   
3. Harry Medlicott
   
4. Charlie Venables
   
5. Mackenzie Turner
   
6. Alfie Edgell
   
7. Kai Morgan
   
8. Tom Nicholson-Watton
   
9. William Shaw
   
10. Freddie Brennan-Jones
    
11. Toby Warren
    
12. Ben Hursey-Hord
    
13. Luca Atkinson
    
14. Bailey Aldridge
    
15. Ashton Robinson
    
16. Ben Fry
17. Riley Lumb