Leeds Rhinos u19s 20 Warrington Wolves u19s 34

WOLVES’ youngsters produced an impressive performance to beat their Leeds Rhinos counterparts in the Academy League at Stanningley ARLFC on Thursday.

Tries from David Foggin-Johnston, Jack Fox, Toby King, Harvey Livett, Brad Stanway and a Jack Johnson double secured a win for Lee Briers’ side.

Warrington got off to the perfect start when they took the lead in the third minute.

From a scrum on Rhinos’ 20 metre line the ball was sent out to centre King who skipped round his opposite number and found in-form winger Foggin-Johnston. He raced away and cut back inside to score wide out on the left.

Six minutes later Leeds had scrum half Jordan Lilley sin binned for a late tackle on Wolves stand off Morgan Smith and from the penalty they took advantage of the extra man.

The ball was worked towards the posts before being whipped out wide to Smith and he found winger Fox who stepped round the cover to touchdown wide out on the right.

Just before the midway point of the half Leeds hit back when a high kick on the last tackle by stand off Joe Sanderson was collected by winger Billy McDermott and he scored wide out on the left.

Seven minutes later some slick play from the home side saw them create an overlap for Lilley to put centre Tommy Brierley over wide on the left to level the scores.

Seven minutes before the break a superb break by Wolves scrum half Stanway saw him race 40 metres before committing Leeds full back Ashton Golding and sending centre King away to score in the left corner to give the Wolves a 12-8 half time advantage.

Leeds Rhinos spent long periods at the start of the second half camped in the Wolves half but superb defence kept them at bay and on 52 minutes a kick from the Rhinos on the last tackle was picked up on his own line by substitute George Moore.

He raced to the halfway line before finding full back Johnson in support and he went 50 metres, outpacing the chasing defenders, to score between the posts.

Centre Harvey Livett was successful with the conversion for the first time on the night and then 10 minutes later the Wolves moved further ahead.

A lovely break down the middle by King saw him go 40 metres before kicking ahead and Johnson managed to collect the ball.

A quick play the ball had the Leeds defence stretched and Livett scored wide out on the right.

Shortly afterwards the Rhinos earned a glimmer of hope when a high kick by Sanderson was lost in the floodlights by Wolves and centre Jack Norfolk picked up the loose ball and put winger Ryan Jones over in the right corner.

Sanderson converted from the touchline to reduce the deficit to eight points.

Any hopes of a Leeds comeback were dashed when Stanway took the ball to the line and stepped through a gap before racing 30 metres to score at the left of the posts.

Livett converted but then Leeds gained a consolation try when prop forward George Milton powered over under the posts. Lilley added the simple conversion.

Wolves deservedly had the final say three minutes from time when an error from the restart by the Rhinos gave a scrum on the 30 metre line.

From that, Stanway stepped round the defence and put Johnson over at the left of the posts. Livett converted to complete a convincing 34-20 victory.

Wolves: Jack Johnson, Jack Fox, Harvey Livett, Toby King, David Foggin-Johnston, Morgan Smith, Brad Stanway, Daniel Murray, Daniel Hirst, Andy Philbin, Sam Wilde, James Jones, Reece Brunt. Subs: Robert Holroyd, George Moore, Pat Moran, Alex Whalley.