Leeds 26-18 Wigan: Rhinos go second after Headingley thriller
Last Updated: 01/04/17 7:26am
England centre Kallum Watkins celebrated his 200th appearance for Leeds with the all-important try as the Rhinos made it four victories in a row to stay level with Betfred Super League leaders Castleford.
Watkins' England team-mate George Williams threatened to ruin the party by scoring two solo tries on the day he confirmed NRL clubs were watching him, but the Rhinos did just enough to secure a 26-18 victory in front of a 17,030 crowd at Headingley.
Wigan have now gone three games without a win to drop to fifth but you would still struggle to write off a title defence from the Warriors.
They had Oliver Gildart and Ryan Sutton back from injury but were still without eight members of their likely starting 13 and eight of their players were aged 21 or under.
Leeds took an early lead with Ashton Golding's penalty, but it did not take Williams long to show his class as he forced a goal-line drop-out with a neat grubber kick before jinking his way through the home defence for his first try after 12 minutes.
The Rhinos' regained the lead with two tries in a five-minute spell midway through the first half.
An interception by Jimmy Keinhorst broke up a Wigan attack and Watkins ran onto Carl Ablett's pass to race clear and get winger Ryan Hall over, while makeshift half-back Joel Moon took a leaf out of Williams' book by dancing his way through for a try on the last tackle.
Golding kicked both conversions to put his side 14-6 in front, but Williams responded with another individual effort after 31 minutes and Morgan Escare's second goal cut the gap to just two points.
That's how it stayed until half-time after Watkins was denied a try for an obstruction by winger Tom Briscoe in the build-up, and Leeds were temporarily reduced to 12 men just before the break when second rower Brett Ferres was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Gildart, who was forced out of the action with a chest injury.
That did little to cool tempers as the game threatened to get out of hand throughout the first half and continued to simmer after the break.
Golding increased the Rhinos' advantage with a penalty early in the second half but the pivotal moment came on 52 minutes when Wigan substitute Nick Gregson had a try disallowed for a double movement and Leeds immediately went up field to add a third try.
McGuire's long pass on halfway got Watkins running into space and he showed his class to finish off the move and extend his side's lead to 20-12.
Wigan were not done, however, and winger Liam Marshall swooped on a dropped pass by Briscoe to race over for his sixth try of his maiden Super League season and Escare was again accurate with the conversion to ensure a tense finish.
The Rhinos could only breathe more easily when Ablett charged over for their fourth try three minutes from the end and Golding kicked his fifth goal from six attempts.
Sky customers can now upgrade to Sky Sports and get 12 months for just £18 per month. Upgrade now!
