Warrington Wolves u19s 34 Leeds Rhinos u19s 20

WARRINGTON Wolves top the table by two points after leap-frogging Leeds Rhinos with an impressive victory at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday.

Wolves proved very difficult for Rhinos to handle and although the visitors hit back either side of half time it was the home side that had the extra composure when it mattered to claim the win.

Four minutes into the game a high kick by scrum half Declan Patton was fumbled by the Rhinos defence. After two quick play the balls stand off Louis Jouffret found Patton whose bullet pass saw second row Joe Philbin collect at pace to steam over at the side of the posts.

Centre Harvey Livett converted and then six minutes later prop forward Tom Walker saw him broke the line and found Joe Philbin, who was held just short but a quick play the ball allowed Patton to put centre Toby King over wide on the left.

Midway through the half excellent work from Walker and Joe Philbin got Wolves close to the Rhinos line and a quick play the ball saw hooker Ryan Maneely go on his own from dummy half to burrow over on the left.

Livett converted and four minutes later a kick on the last tackle from Rhinos was collected superbly by Livett close to his own line.

He raced 40 metres before finding Jouffret in support and he outpaced the chasing cover on a 50 metre dash to score on the right. Livett goaled to put his side 22-0 ahead.

Rhinos hit back on 33 minutes when good work by scrum half Joe Sanderson saw him find stand off Jordan Lilley and his long ball out wide reached winger Ashley Handley, who squeezed over in the left corner.

Three minutes before the break Rhinos decided to run the ball on the last tackle and whipped it the width of the field to stretch the Wolves defence and make room for substitute Nathan Barker to go over in the right corner.

Sanderson converted from the touchline to make the half time score 22-10 in the Wolves’ favour.

Four minutes into the second half Rhinos forced a goal line drop out and after two strong drives that put them close to the Wolves line – Barker brushed off three defenders to power over wide out on the right.

Barker converted and 12 minutes later a kick to the corner by Lilley saw centre Jordan Harper force an error and winger Billy McDermott capitalised to pick up the loose ball and score in the right corner.

Sanderson narrowly failed with the conversion attempt, meaning Wolves still held a narrow two-point advantage.

Wolves refused to panic and stuck to their gameplan, when Patton’s kick into the in-goal area forced a drop out some fine handling got them close to Rhinos’ line and Patton was on hand to slice through the line to score at the left of the posts.

Livett converted to put Wolves two scores ahead. The win was sealed 11 minutes from time when Toby King brilliantly charged down a Rhinos kick on the halfway line and picked up the ball to race 50 metres and score between the posts. Livett added the conversion to complete a 34-20 success.

Wolves: Jack Johnson; Brad Goulding, Harvey Livett, Toby King, Jake Eccleston; Louis Jouffret, Declan Patton; Tom Walker, Ryan Maneely, George King, Joe Philbin, Sam Wilde, Sean Kenny. Subs: Robert Holroyd, Andy Philbin, Daniel Murray, Alex Whalley.