Leeds Rhinos kicked off the new Betfred Super League season with an entertaining 28-22 win over Wakefield Trinity at Emerald Headingley.

Richard Agar gave new signing Zane Tetevano his first start in a Rhinos shirt at loose forward and captain Luke Gale was also available after recovering from a pre season pectoral injury. Young centre Jack Broadbent retained his place at centre after impressing in the friendly defeat to Huddersfield, playing alongside Tom Briscoe while Alex Sutcliffe partnered Luke Briscoe.

In the bright sunshine and wearing the special Rob Burrow kit, Leeds started strongly, taking Lino’s kick off and forcing a repeat set moments later; Myler, Mellor and Sutcliffe taking Trinity full back Alex Walker back over his own try line. As the Rhinos worked the ball towards the try line, a nice passing move involving Gale and Myler opened up space on the edge for Luke Briscoe to round the Wakefield winger and score in the corner.

Leeds looked to capitalise further; Kruise Leeming kicking a 40/20 to put the Rhinos back on Wakefield’s try line but Trinity held strong and turned the ball over. Jacob Miller took full advantage of the possession, threading the ball wide to Tom Johnstone, who took the ball all the way down the sideline to level the score.

Trinity continued to dominate for the next ten minutes, extending their lead to 16-4 after 20 minutes. Innes Senior finished off a sweeping move under pressure in the corner, which was confirmed by video referee Ben Thaler, and minutes later, Miller was the architect once again, splitting through the Leeds line and offloading for Matty Ashurst to touch down. Wakefield debutant Mason Lino converted both tries.

Leeds needed a spark and the introduction of Brad Dwyer, James Donaldson and Bodene Thompson from the bench inspired the Rhinos to level the game. In similar fashion to Briscoe’s try at the start of the game, off the back of a great break by Broadbent, Leeds pushed out to the left once again to Luke Briscoe, who chose to pass inside for Alex Sutcliffe to power over. Rhyse Martin converted his first kick of the afternoon to close to gap to six points.

Leeds were rolling and just passed the half hour mark, a head high tackle from Miller and Dwyer gave the Rhinos precious territory. The Rhinos hooker made Trinity pay as he took on two Wakefield defenders out of dummy half and managed to wriggle his way through to the try line. Martin was on target again to level the scores up.

With minutes remaining, Leeds had Wakefield pinned by their own try line and some quick thinking from Matt Prior saw the prop rip the ball one on one from Tinirau Arona and turn possession back in the Rhinos’ favour. Moving out from under the posts, Gale managed to attract enough Wakefield defenders and then get an offload away for Myler to score his 500th Super League point and send Leeds into half time with a 22-16 advantage.

As the sides emerged for the second half, it was Betfred Man of the Match Johnstone that locked the scores up once again, taking a cross field kick from Gale to sprint away from Briscoe and Broadbent and score under the posts.

Leeds were forced into more defending as Wakefield had the wind in their sails. Bill Tupou shrugged off Broadbent to break downfield but couldn’t find Miller or Johnstone, thanks to Myler pushing the ball away. On the repeat set, prop Fifita looked to offload the ball away for Trinity to get in under the posts but the ball was fumbled and Leeds took the ball away.

On the hour mark, Martin’s fifth tackle kick was fumbled by Tupou, giving Leeds the ball in a dangerous position and as the Rhinos pushed the ball right, Liam Sutcliffe and Myler combined to send Broadbent over for his first Super League try. Martin missed the conversion but as the game reached it’s climax, Trinity were caught offside, prompting the second rower to call for the kicking tee. He converted with four minutes on the clock to set up a thrilling finish.

Wakefield elected for the short kick off and a knock on from Sutcliffe gave the home side a chance but Broadbent came to Leeds’ rescue, tipping Miller’s pass in the air before claiming the ball. Trinity had one last opportunity as Senior made a break down the right sideline but referee Mikalauskas called a forward pass, giving the Rhinos their first win of the season.