Leeds Rhinos 32 Warrington Wolves 12
10:18pm Friday 11th April 2008
SOME familiar issues put paid to Wolves' hopes of a shock win long before the final hooter sounded at Headingley on Friday night.
Disappointing in their previous two games against Harlequins and Wakefield, Wolves seemed in a mood to put things straight against Leeds as they dominated the early stages with some expansive rugby.
Louis Anderson crossed for the game's opening try and, with the hosts struggling to get going, Wolves' chances of victory seemed genuine.
They even had the opportunity to go 12-0 ahead when Matt King broke clear.
But, as so many of the Wolves team had done at Wakefield five days previously, King dropped the ball as he attempted to put the supporting Vinnie Anderson away for a certain try.
Soon afterwards, Ryan Bailey handed out the sort of treatment Adrian Morley normally dishes out when he caught the Wolves captain with a bone-crunching hit.
Soon after that, Leeds took advantage of the psychological lift and some poor defending to level when Wolves somehow failed to complete a tackle on Scott Donald and the winger picked himself up before racing to the line.
Kevin Sinfield then landed a penalty and, bafflingly, Wolves were trailing 8-6 at half time.
And, if they were behind at the end of a half they had largely bossed, their chances of achieving a result on the basis of their second-half performance were nil.
Granted, Wolves were facing the world club champions and did so with only 16 men after Paul Johnson picked up a hamstring injury in the warm-up.
Lee Mitchell stepped into the breach as Wolves' emergency substitute - Paul Cullen did not want to throw an Academy player with no Super League experience into such a difficult situation - but was unable to come on after picking up a knock playing for the reserves in the curtain-raiser.
Losing Stuart Reardon with a recurrence of his hamstring problem just after half time also did not help Wolves.
But they made basic errors in possession and, with Michael Monaghan still struggling for form and fitness, Cullen's men were back in the old situation of lacking suitable guidance in the halves in the continued absence of Lee Briers, Simon Grix and Chris Bridge.
Cullen, who at least felt his side had improved on the previous two weeks, appeared to point the finger at referee Ian Smith for six consecutive penalties that went against Wolves at the start of the second period and admitted to being baffled at the reasons behind Jon Clarke's sin-binning.
But Wolves' current problems seem to extend beyond that and fans, who had hoped this might be the year when their heroes caused serious problems at places like Headingley, are fast losing the optimism that had accompanied a decent start to the season.
Progression in the Challenge Cup is now needed more than ever.
Match facts.
Leeds Rhinos 32 Warrington Wolves 12.
Rhinos: Brent Webb; Lee Smith, Carl Ablett (1t), Keith Senior, Scott Donald (2t); Kevin Sinfield (6g), Rob Burrow (1t); Kylie Leuluai, Matt Diskin, Ryan Bailey, Gareth Ellis, Jamie Peacock, Jordan Tansey. Subs used: Nick Scruton, Luke Burgess (1t), Ben Kaye, Danny Williams.
Wolves: Stuart Reardon; Chris Hicks (1t, 2g), Martin Gleeson, Matt King, Kevin Penny; Vinnie Anderson, Michael Monaghan; Adrian Morley, Jon Clarke, Paul Rauhihi, Andy Bracek, Louis Anderson (1t), Rob Parker. Subs used: Ben Harrison, Mark Gleeson, Chris Riley. Not used: Lee Mitchell.
Referee: Ian Smith.
Scoring: Louis Anderson is put through a gap by Monaghan's crisp pass, 8mins, Hicks converts, 0-6; Donald gets up to race 40m through the Wolves defence after Hicks had halted the winger but allowed him to slip from grasp, 29mins, Sinfield converts, 6-6; Sinfield lands penalty given for Wolves offside, 40+mins, 8-6; Webb puts Donald over in the corner after Riley had rashly dashed after a loose ball and left the wing wide open, 47mins, Sinfield converts, 14-6; Sinfield kicks penalty after Clarke's high tackle, 56mins, 16-6; Ablett touches down on the right flank, 60mins, Sinfield converts, 22-6; Hicks scores after Monaghan's fine long pass had caught out Donald, 68mins, Hicks converts, 22-12; Burrow starts the move by beating Monaghan and Hicks before finishing it after Morley's brave chase and tackle forced Tansey to offload, 71mins, 26-12; Burgess twists over from close range, 74mins, Sinfield converts, 32-12.
Sin bin: Wolves: Clarke 59mins (persistent offside).
Pens: Rhinos 14 Wolves 10.
Scrums: Rhinos 4 Wolves 4.
Attendance: 16,327.
Warrington Guardian top men: Clarke 3pts, Martin Gleeson 2pts, Harrison 1pt.
Interesting note: The last time Wolves did not use all their substitutes was also against Leeds - Chris Riley did not come on during Andrew Johns' debut game in 2005.