Leeds 22-33 Warrington: Wolves repel Rhinos to extend winning run in Super League
Last Updated: 05/05/18 8:19am
Warrington made it nine wins in a row in all competitions and eight in the Betfred Super League with a 33-22 victory over Leeds after a see-saw contest at Headingley.
The Rhinos battled back from 10-0 down to lead 22-11 just short of the hour-mark, but a storming finish from the Wolves, with Harvey Livett completing a hat-trick of tries, secured the points for the visitors.
The win also took Warrington five points clear of fifth-placed Leeds in the Super League table and back within four points of leaders St Helens.
Warrington were on the front foot from the start and opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Kevin Brown pounced on Livett's well-placed, side-footed kick through and tapped the ball forward before touching down.
Bryson Goodwin landed the conversion, although he missed a relatively simple penalty attempt in the 15th minute, hitting the right-hand side post after Ryan Hall was penalised for tackling Josh Charnley in the air.
Daryl Clark also touched down under the posts during the same move but it was ruled out for a knock-on by Charnley after he had collected the high kick.
Warrington did manage to score their second try just two minutes later with Livett turning try-scorer this time as he twisted his way through some weak Leeds defending to score from close range.
Goodwin was off target again with the conversion attempt and his problems continued as he was forced to leave the field a few minutes later due to a head injury.
It was still all Warrington at this stage with Ben Murdoch-Masila only denied a try by some good last-ditch defending from Kallum Watkins and Richie Myler.
Ashton Golding had been having a torrid time with a couple of major handling errors, but he atoned for them when he put Leeds on the scoreboard in the 32nd minute as he rolled over for his first try of the season.
Wakins made a complete hash of his conversion attempt and it was Tyrone Roberts who had the final word of the opening 40 minutes with a drop goal just before the interval to make it 11-4 to Warrington.
The Rhinos were quick out of the blocks after the break and cut the deficit to just one point in the 46th minute when Joel Moon wriggled past three defenders to score after collecting Myler's pass, Watkins adding the two points this time.
The champions then took the lead for the first time in the 56th minute thanks to a well-worked move as the ball found its way to Ryan Hall who touched down in the left-hand corner. Watkins once again confidently landed the conversion.
It was all Leeds now and they looked set fair for victory in the 59th minute when another neat pass from Myler sent Carl Ablett racing over for their fourth try, Watkins adding the extras via a post to make it 22-11.
Warrington are made of stern stuff these days, though, and they came roaring back just a couple of minutes later when Ryan Atkins collected Brown's well-placed grubber kick and scored. Stefan Ratchford was now on kicking duties and he split the posts with the conversion.
Livett then took centre stage with two tries in two minutes, the first coming in the 69th minute after good work by Jack Hughes and Ratchford, who made a superb backhanded pass, set him up to power through the Leeds defence.
Ratchford added the conversion to put the visitors back in front and then played a role in Livett's superb second try along with Clark and Roberts, who supplied the killer pass.
A missed conversion from Ratchford kept Leeds in with a chance at 27-22 and they applied some late pressure to the Warrington line, but Murdoch-Masila ploughed his way over in the final minute to seal the Wolves' victory.
