LEEDS Rhinos brought their 100 percent record and much heralded attacking fire power to the Halliwell Jones Stadium to give this Wire team a stern test, particularly of their defence.

Wire passed that test with flying colours.

Their defence was outstanding throughout, extremely well organised with a great sense of togetherness and enthusiasm and at times inflicting cruel punishment on Leeds.

I’m sure Jamie Peacock takes great pride in still being the man that is most responsible for taking Leeds forward down the middle, but on nights like this that responsibility came with a target as Wire were determined not to let him gain any significant ground. Virtually every time he got the ball he was met by an extremely aggressive gang tackle.

Last week I likened Russell to Jason Robinson in terms of running style. This week it was Kevin Penny’s turn to magically morph into the legendary winger for one moment of brilliance around the fifteen minute mark as his opening try was remarkably similar to Robinson’s famous try in the first Super League Grand Final, as he jinked across the field before spotting two players to dart between and then just about managing to win the race to the line with Leeds’ young full back.

Despite being some way off their fluent and brilliant best with the ball Wire always looked the better side, largely due to that brutal defence exemplified by one of Westwood’s many tackles doubling Ward over as the back rower made great shoulder contact just under the ball, causing a knock on.

It was one of those games where the Wire half backs didn’t need to do anything special to win the game, other than playing their part in an outstanding team defensive effort. O’Brien did produce one moment of excellence though when his brilliantly teasing grubber kick produced the second try when Ratchford just about gathered the ball under the posts.

Wire maintained their control of the match into the second half, with no let up in the defensive effort or quality.

As you would expect from the legendary forward, Peacock kept bringing the ball forward despite the hammerings he was getting.

Around fifteen minutes into the half Sims spotted Peacock with the ball again and flew out of the line and hit him so hard it looked like he was trying to send him back to Leeds without the need of a coach trip. Peacock kept hold of their ball, but seeing the leader of their pack being knocked backwards seemed to send Leeds into panic mode and even though they were only fifteen metres from their own line they threw the ball around like it was an exhibition game of touch rugby.

Wire’s defence sniffed an opportunity to clinch the game, O’Brien swooped onto the ball that had been carelessly put to the ground, then he quickly sent Atkins racing clear to score under the posts.

Eighteen nil was always going to be more than enough of a lead and it took a try that will almost certainly be amongst the contenders for try of the season for Leeds to get on the scoreboard at all. An excellent combination of off loads and support play finally got Leeds over the try line.

An excellent defensive performance with no apparent weak links in it was definitely something to take pride in and hopefully the start of a reputation for this Wire team to base a title winning season on.