Wolves hunt down Rhinos
Warrington confirmed their status as Grand Final contenders with a 22-12 victory over champions Leeds at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Last Updated: 03/08/08 2:37pm
Warrington confirmed their status as Grand Final contenders with a 22-12 victory over champions Leeds at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Wolves are hitting form at the right time under new head coach James Lowes, but the champions are worryingly on the slide, this defeat their fifth in eight games.
Warrington were well worth their victory, running in five tries and playing some devastating attacking rugby.
They were also strong in defence against a side that had scored more than 100 tries coming into this game, but looked jaded after last week's Challenge Cup semi-final defeat in sapping midday heat.
Warrington dominated the opening exchanges and should have gone ahead, only for Chris Hicks to miss a penalty in front of the posts, while Matt King and Kevin Penny both bombed try-scoring chances.
It was almost inevitable that Leeds would make them pay. On 23 minutes minutes Ali Lauitiiti burst up the middle - moments after being put on report for leading with a forearm - and Kylie Leuluai was on hand to power over.
Kevin Sinfield added the extras.
The Wolves had to wait until the 37th minute for their first points as a break by Lee Mitchell gave Hicks the chance to put King in at the corner. But Hicks was guilty of his second of five missed kicks and Leeds went in ahead 6-4.
Weakening prey
The Wolves clearly scented weakening prey after the break and Adrian Morley's powerful and brave burst on the final tackle and inside pass put Jon Clarke in under the posts, before Hicks kicked his only points of the match.
But the winger made amends with a quickfire brace of tries.
Both scores came from wonderful handling moves, as slick passing across the width of the pitch opened up the chance for Hicks to slide in twice at the corner.
With 15 minutes left Lee Mitchell broke a tackle in the middle of the pitch and raced 50 metres before finishing well under pressure and the lead was 16 points.
To Leeds' credit they rallied and threatened a comeback only for a couple of errors to ease the pressure on Warrington.
The visitors had to settle for Leuluai's close range effort three minutes from time, but by then the home fans were celebrating a seventh win in eight games since Lowes took over.
