England captain George Williams turned in another stylish display as Warrington quickly got back to winning ways - and left boss Sam Burgess purring about his side's "special" plays.
Stand-off Williams scored one try, created another and produced some fierce defensive hits as Leeds got thrashed. It meant, despite missing Toby King and three key forwards, they delivered a fifth win, bouncing back from a home defeat to Catalans to go top. Loose forward Ben Currie also impressed but depleted Rhinos had their chances before falling apart.
They took a ninth minute lead when England centre Harry Newman rose high to claim Matt Frawley’s lofted chip. And they almost added a second when Ash Handley raced 90m on a thrilling run only to be denied by an equally impressive Matty Ashton cover tackle into touch. It proved crucial as Warrington were able to turn things around.
Matty Nicholson crossed on 19 minutes after bamboozling Paul Momirovski with his footwork. Leeds, who had already lost Tom Holroyd to a HIA, then saw England winger Handley depart with a rib injury after Williams’ shuddering tackle. Second-row Nicholson should have had a second try when Williams’ exquisite pass unleashed Connor Wrench.
But the centre ignored his support and got snared by Lachie Miller. It didn’t matter as soon after Williams danced through himself, Stefan Ratchford converting. Next, Currie took the Leeds defence by surprise, showing deft hands on the last tackle to send Joe Bullock over for his first Super League try in Warrington colours. Ratchford’s conversion put his side 16-4 ahead at the break.
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However, Leeds came back strongly when Luis Roberts slid onto Brodie Croft’s 43rd minute grubber. And they thought they had cut the deficit further seven minutes later only for Momirovski’s effort to be ruled out by a contentious double-movement decision. Under-strength Rhinos gave a debut to Ned McCormack, 19, off the bench, a former England RU Under 18s international.
Warrington's Joe Bullock takes on Leeds defence (PA)But there was no way he’d end up on the winning side once Warrington hooker Danny Walker dummied through some woeful marker defence in the 65th minute. Matt Dufty crossed when he ran onto Williams’ latest defence-splitting pass before Josh Thewlis intercepted Croft’s pass to round things off, Ratchford finishing with five goals.
Burgess admitted: “There were some great moments. I liked our effort areas – Matty Ashton’s tackle in the first half was pretty special. It was an important win. We trusted the guys that came in, so I wasn’t surprised at the performance.
“The players have a lot of care for each other, that’s really important. I’m really proud of their effort, I can’t say enough about that.”
Leeds boss Rohan Smith, who revealed Handley and Holroyd both ended up in hospital, rued: “We got beaten in most facets. We had some decent patches but not enough.
“But you lose one of the form players in the competition - and a winger - in Ash Handley, that’s tough.”
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