Late charge lifts Rhinos

Kallum Watkins scored four tries as Leeds bounced back from last week's defeat by St Helens with a battling win over Wakefield.

But it was the Wildcats who dominated the opening half and they should have led by more than Greg Johnson's try.

And Watkins made the Wildcats pay in clinical fashion by crossing the whitewash on four occasions after the interval, while Australian hooker Danny Buderus added another score.

Leeds had seven first-team players absent and they were forced to field centre Watkins on the right wing.

Wakefield started fast and good work from hooker Julien Rinaldi got them close to the try line but Ben Jefferies' high kick was well taken by Ryan Hall.

In Wakefield's next set of six, Frankie Mariano looked like he would ground Rinaldi's grubber but Rob Burrow got there first to boot the ball into touch.

Hall thought he had broken the deadlock with the Rhinos' first meaningful attack of the game but his try was chalked off because of Brent Webb's forward pass.

Wakefield's pressure finally told as Glenn Morrison found a gap in the visitors' defence, and with Leeds stretched, Tommy Lee's long pass was touched down by Johnson in the right corner in the 24th minute.

Although Josh Griffin missed the conversion, the Rhinos' task of levelling was made even harder when Luke Burgess was sin-binned for a knock-on and interference.

However, the hosts failed to add to their score - despite Luke George going close - and went in at the break with a slender 4-0 advantage.

Control

The second half belonged to the Rhinos, as they took control once Webb's clever offload put Watkins over unchallenged in the 45th minute.

Despite Wakefield adding two points after Ryan Bailey's interference, Leeds took the lead for the first time in the 56th minute when Watkins jumped highest to collect Paul McShane's up-and-under and touched down.

Skipper Sinfield added the extras after missing with his first kick and two minutes later Watkins completed his hat-trick after Sinfield found him in acres of space.

Sinfield once again failed to convert the try but he added a penalty and was again involved in the build-up to Leeds' fourth try of the afternoon, when his back-handed pass found Buderus and the Australian hooker went over near the posts in the 74th minute.

Watkins claimed his fourth of the afternoon a minute later after outjumping opposite number George before crossing, with Sinfield converting both tries.