Smith disappointed as Wolves miss out

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WARRINGTON failed to make the most of their early domination and missed the chance to go top of the table as they lost 26-16 at defending champions Leeds.
Disappointed Head of Coaching Tony Smith said after the game: “It’s not a great night for us. We’re disappointed.
“We had a reasonable start without being terrific. We were a little bit off the pace tonight.
It wasn’t until the end that we found the desperation and energy and lifted ourselves and showed what we can do.
“We showed some spirit but we need to show it a bit earlier than when game is out of our grasp.”
Warrington took an early lead through Matt King after dominating the opening quarter as Leeds lost England captain Jamie Peacock to a knee injury after only seven minutes during a try saving tackle on England team mate Adrian Morley.
But the defedning champions went on to produce some of their best rugby of the season while Warrington were brought back down to earth following last week’s stunning Challenge Cup victory at Huddersfield.
Warrington dominated the opening exchanges with King touching down Simon Grix’s grubber kick.
But it could have been far worse for the Rhinos as their defence was under constant siege.
Leeds eventually weathered the storm and substitute Carl Ablett, a part-time
centre who was forced into the role of prop, scored an equalising try within minutes of taking to the field, crashing over from Danny McGuire’s short pass.
The home side took the lead on 27 minutes when England winger Ryan Hall took full-back Brent Webb’s cut-out pass to cross at the corner.
Skipper Kevin Sinfield added the goals to make it 12-6 at the interval and Leeds extended their lead four minutes into the second half, when a strong run by centre Keith Senior
opened up the Warrington defence and Webb took a return pass to score.
Sinfield’s third goal made it 18-6 but the Wolves were in no mood to surrender and Morley was held up over the line as he tried to haul his side back into contention.
Warrington were attacking again when Leeds winger Lee Smith scooped on a loose pass and raced 60 metres upfield before offloading to Hall.
Warrington winger Chris Hicks got back to make the tackle but was sin-binned for holding his man down and Sinfield made him pay but putting over the penalty to make it 20-6 as the game entered the final quarter.
There was no way back for Warrington when Ablett broke through a 12-man defence to send McGuire away for a deserved try and Sinfield kicked his fifth goal from as many attempts.
When restored to their full complement for the last 10 minutes Warrington finished
strongly, as Grix and Ben Harrison claimed tries and Bridge kicked a second goal, but it was too little too late.

Pictures show Ben Harrison charging for the try line and Matt King celebrating his try with Simon Grix.

For more pictures CLICK HERE

Leeds Rhinos: Webb, Smith, Delaney, Senior, Hall, Sinfield, McGuire, Leuluai, Buderus, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Kirke, Clarkson.
Replacements: Diskin, Eastwood, Bailey, Ablett.

Warrington Wolves: Mathers, Hicks, Bridge, King, Riley, Grix, Briers, Morley, Higham, Harrison, L Anderson, Westwood, Atkins.
Replacements: V Anderson, Solomona, Wood, Cooper.

Referee: Ben Thaler

Atten: 16,733.


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Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.

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