Leeds held off a late rally from Warrington after having two men sin-binned to claim a fourth straight win in Super League. "It was a magnificent effort from our boys," head coach Agar said
Monday 5 July 2021 23:23, UK
Richard Agar was delighted by the effort put in by his side after Leeds Rhinos recorded a 22-16 victory over Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Rhinos built up a 22-6 lead early in the second half but had to survive a frantic rally from the Wolves as Josh Charnley claimed two late tries, while the visitors had both Liam Sutcliffe and Robert Lui in the sin-bin in the final 10 minutes.
Leeds scored three tries through Lui, Alex Mellor and Ash Handley, while Rhyse Martin kicked five goals from as many attempts.
"It was a magnificent effort from our boys," Agar said. "We came to play and as the energy dropped out of the game it was like touch and pass in the second half and we were clinging on and had to hang on by our fingernails for dear life.
"But we hung on and came up with some great last-ditch efforts and only conceded with 11 men in the second half with a few minutes left on the clock, so it was a magnificent effort.
"It was an enormous task to come to Warrington on the back of a really tough schedule and the spirit we showed sticking in for each other was fantastic.
"I thought in the first half we were magnificent, we tackled really well, and we just got away from that for 10 minutes and they ended up getting a soft try. We knew we were going to do it tough and when you throw in the two sin-bins as well, the spirit we showed was fantastic."
The packed schedule continues for the Rhinos on Friday when they face another tough test against the high-flying Catalans Dragons at Emerald Headingley.
"We go again in four days' time and I'm thinking: 'how do we do it again?'," Agar said. "The boys need mentally refreshing because after a good backs-to-the-wall effort like that, you could hear a pin drop in the dressing room.
"They are absolutely exhausted, and I've never heard a dressing room so quiet. But we will have a day off and go again later in the week to play the team at the top of the competition."
Warrington coach Steve Price believed his side got what they deserved after their six-match Super League winning run came to an end.
"We came up with 19 errors and completed at 60 per cent and you don't give yourself a chance to win the game when you deliver that," Price said. "Our tackle control was not up to standard tonight and that performance was not acceptable.
"We were disappointing tonight from the first set when we made less than 30 metres and it has been one of our strengths.
"They dominated field position for the majority of the game and were clearly the better team, while we had one decent set in the first half when we scored a try, but we needed to be better.
"It's individuals' responsibility to control the football, be disciplined and to get the tackle control right, which are all effort areas and they did that better than us."
