There has surely never been a single 80-minute performance that has summed up the fortunes of one team, their season to date and even their coach quite like this one. Leeds’ remarkable run to last season’s Grand Final has felt like a distant memory so far in 2023, with five wins from their opening 11 games and a string of performances which have left you wondering whether they were capable of anything like a repeat of last season.
We are halfway through the regular season now and the truth is, nobody still has any idea what this Leeds side’s ceiling really is. However, this performance and result suggests that like last year, perhaps they can’t be written off after all. After half an hour here the Rhinos seemed well-beaten. They trailed 14-0 and despite narrowing the deficit with an interception try from Harry Newman, two minutes later, they were reduced to 12 men when Zane Tetevano was sent off for a high tackle on Harry Smith. It felt like game over; few sides win at Wigan with circumstances like that against them.
But that’s the thing about this Leeds side: you just don’t know what comes next. The answer here was remarkable, something not even the most optimistic Rhinos supporter could have imagined: six tries to Wigan’s one, a stunning, free-flowing second-half display against all of the odds and in the end, a comfortable win that could potentially ignite Leeds’ season.
“We spoke about the need to keep working for each other at half-time,” Rohan Smith, the Leeds coach, said. “There’s no lack of spirit in this group and to do that against a team like this, that’s big.”
For half an hour, his side were dreadful. Nobody could have complained about the 14-point lead Wigan had established during that period, with tries from Abbas Miski and Bevan French, coupled with three goals from Harry Smith, the least the Warriors deserved. The latter was central to the game’s key moments – his wayward pass was plucked from the air by Newman to reduce their lead to 14-6 before Tetevano was sent off after a high shot on the England half-back.
Matty Ashton’s late try (pictured) ensured Warrington would keep their place at the Super League summit after a stirring 21-14 comeback win over Hull KR at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
First-half tries from Ethan Ryan and Kane Linnett looked set to lead Willie Peters’ men to a seventh win on the bounce in a scintillating half-hour in which they ruthlessly exploited the hosts’ creaking rearguard. But Wire dragged their way back through Josh Maguire’s try to trail by six at the interval, and Ben Currie levelled before Ashton capped a sweeping move by grounding the game-winning try in the corner with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Leigh's fine return to the top tier continued with an impressive 30-4 victory at Huddersfield – the Leopards are fifth, a place behind Catalans, who ran in eight tries in a 46-22 win at Castleford. St Helens host Salford on Saturday. PA Media and Guardian sport
At that stage, you felt there would only be one outcome. Only Rohan Smith and his players had other ideas and Wigan had no answer. “It turned pretty ugly,” Wigan’s coach, Matt Peet, said of his side’s second-half performance. “It was completely unacceptable from us in the second half. I think we’ll all be equally embarrassed at that.”
You felt if the Warriors held their nerve, with a man advantage, they would close the game out. But they started to chase scores to kill the contest and Leeds, who were now playing with little consequence given the circumstances, took full advantage.
Even when Tom Holroyd forced his way over shortly after half-time, you still felt a Wigan side who could have ended the night top would have enough about them to win. But when they made a mess of a Richie Myler kick and the scrum-half scored to put Leeds ahead for the first time, the momentum was starting to swing the Rhinos’ way. Wigan, in response, could not string a meaningful attack together until the hour mark, when Harry Smith’s pass enabled Iain Thornley to level the scores at 18-18. What happened next defied belief.
Leeds did not go into their shell, they came out of it further. They scored twice in four minutes, first through another interception try from Newman off a stray Harry Smith pass to put the Rhinos back in front, before an outrageous offload from Justin Sangaré led to Rhyse Martin touching down to open up a 10-point lead with 15 minutes remaining. Leeds were not done, either. Cameron Smith forced his way over before, in the dying seconds, Liam Tindall scored from yet another interception.
These sides meet again next Saturday in the Challenge Cup and one thing, it seems, is increasingly certain: you just don’t know which Rhinos side will show up.
