Leeds edge past champions Wigan in gripping contest

Betfred Super League

Leeds (6) 12

Goals: Connor 2 and Lumb

Wigan (4) 10

In a thrilling match at AMT Headingley, Leeds defeated champion Wigan Warriors to claim a clear Super League victory.

The home team took the lead early on with Riley Lumb’s try, but Liam Marshall’s score cut that deficit to two points at break.

Wigan were in control for the first time thanks to a typical magic trick from Bevan French, but Jack Sinfield’s late try and Jake Connor’s conversion saw the Rhinos’ favor.

The victory places them in sixth place and demonstrated how strong they could be under new head coach Brad Arthur, who took over in July.

By their very high standards, Matt Peet’s world champions haven’t experienced too many setbacks in the last 18 months, so this is a blip.

Adam Keighran and Jai Field were both injured, and the shock cup defeat suffered by Hull FC also had a cost. Abbas Miski also suffered an injury in the warm-up, which caused a further setback.

And it was the player in Miski’s place who gave Leeds the lead when Jacob Douglas spilled Connor’s high kick and James Bentley’s pass made it possible for Lumb to go over.

The champions’ visit was greeted by the Rhinos, who were eager to see how Connor’s penalty extended the lead.

After Brodie Croft’s run had broken the line, they would have advanced even further if it had been for a magnificent last-ditch tackle from French to Keenan Palasia.

The visitors struck on the hooter just as it appeared as though Leeds would keep Wigan scoreless at half-time.

The second period was intensely competitive and full of big plays, but a French magic finally made the scoreline their favor for the first time.

Before spotting French moving forward from deep, Smith sensed an opportunity, and he immediately danced across the line before diving over to send two defenders adrift.

However, despite having a good chance with the winning score, Leeds fought back.

Ryan Hall, the record try-scorer for the Super League, was celebrating his 500th game of his career with an unintentional assist.

For Hall to contest, Connor sent a kick high into the night sky, but the veteran winger’s head slammed against Sinfield, who grabbed the loose ball and added two more points for his side with the extras.

Then, in the tense final moments, they showed real resolve to win.

Brad Arthur, the head coach of the Leeds Rhinos, stated on BBC Radio 5 Live:

“It was a difficult, unrelenting victory.” We did a lot of things in the second half that we’d probably like to learn from, but we persevered.

Ryan Hall put in a really good effort, and you can tell from the players how much they care.

We can’t get carried away with just one game,” he said. However, I’ve always observed that we just haven’t been able to get the desired outcome over the course of five or six games.

Hope that will give us a little confidence to work toward it tonight.

Matt Peet, the head coach of the Wigan Warriors, told BBC Radio Manchester:

It ebbed and flowed, as they say. At first, Leeds had won, but points did not.

In the second half, we raised the bar and became more successful. Although I liked a lot of what we did defensively in the second half, the outcome was disappointing.

Gannon, Lisone, Sinfield, and Holroyd swaps.

Wigan: French, Douglas, Eckersley, Wardle, Marshall, Marshall, Farrimond, Smith, Byrne, Leeming, Thompson, Nsemba, Farrell, Ellis, and others.

Forber, Dupree, Walters, and Mago are the others.