DARYL Powell conceded that Leeds Rhinos were “the better team” despite going down to his Warrington Wolves side this afternoon.

Down to 12 men for much of the game following James Bentley’s early red card, the home side controlled much of the contest at Headingley and looked set for victory until Connor Wrench’s late try rescued The Wire.

Warrington Guardian:

Connor Wrench scores Wire's winning try. Picture by PA Wire

Wolves themselves spent time down to 12 men after Oliver Holmes was sin-binned after half time for a high tackle, while Leeds ended the first half with 11 players after former Wire man Brad Dwyer was yellow carded.

Powell paid tribute to the home side’s display and spoke about the many areas in which his Wire side will need to improve.

“For large parts, it looked like we were going to lose the game,” he said.

“In the last 10 minutes, we found something that stirred us up a little bit. We started moving the ball a little bit better and there was a little bit more accuracy.

“I think we were only in attacking position six times in the whole game. With stats like that, it’s going to be difficult.

“Territory wise, we got hammered in the first half and made errors right at the start.

“I’m really pleased to win the game, but we have to say we want to improve on that.

Warrington Guardian:

Picture by PA Wire

“I thought Leeds were the better team but ultimately, it’s what the scoreboard looks like at the end of the game and we got ourselves in front when it really mattered.

“If you look at the basics, I thought we lost rucks consistently.

“I thought both their nines were really dangerous as a result of us being really poor in the ruck, two tries came from us being poor in the ruck and Leeds were playing the ball way too quickly.

“I thought they ran a bit harder than us and I want us to be better at that.

“Our structure, our ability to maintain our structure under pressure – there’s quite a bit for us to improve but its two points on the board.

“It was always going to be tough coming here but after Bentley’s red card, they really stepped up and we went the other way.”

Warrington took an early lead when Gareth Widdop finished off Matty Ashton’s break down the left touchline and when Bentley was dismissed for a high shot on Widdop shortly afterwards, they looked set to build on that.

Warrington Guardian:

Gareth Widdop scores the opener. Picture by SWPix.com

However, the Rhinos stormed back thanks to tries from Zane Tetevano and Matt Prior before Josh Charnley reduced the deficit just before the break with Leeds down to 11.

Ash Handley’s try and Rhyse Martin’s penalty stretched Leeds out again after Holmes saw yellow for a high tackle, but Charnley crossed again to set up Wrench’s late winner.

“We were under pressure a lot because territorially, they dominated the game,” Powell said.

“We held out well early on in the game and during that period when Oli was off, that was key.

“For a period, we were incredibly soft, conceding those two pushover tries.

“We were taking the ball away from two metres off our own line most of the time – it’s soul-destroying and we had to dig deep to get through that but we were able to.

“We found that ball movement that was so key. We spoke about it at half time but didn’t really rectify it until late."