WARRINGTON Wolves made the most of a controversial late sin-binning to pip Leeds Rhinos 16-14 thanks to Jake Thewlis’ late try.
Leeds ended the game with 12 men when Keenan Palasia was perhaps harshly penalised for making contact to the head of Lachlan Fitzgibbon, and Warrington didn’t need a second invitation to complete their comeback.
With the extra man, Matt Dufty managed to find space with a curving run and his offload to Stefan Ratchford enabled the centre to feed Thewlis down the left hand side to score the matchwinner.
Warrington, without their first choice three-quarter line, started with the inexperienced Thewlis and Arron Lindop on the wings, and they bookended the game with tries.
Lindop scored the try of the match with his 12th minute opener, breaking down the right hand side off a Dufty long pass and he kicked on to beat Lachlan Miller and the ball sat up nicely for him to score.
It needed a bit of magic like that to break a gritty opening to the match, but it was Leeds that then started to take control of the game.
They levelled the scores through James McDonnell’s converted tries, though replays showed more than a hint of a forward pass from Jake Connor, who had an excellent game for the Rhinos.
Connor had a hand in their second try, finished off by Riley Lumb on the left corner after Ash Handley had drawn in Lindop and Ben Currie to leave an overlap.
Warrington Wolves lacked composure and struggled to build pressure in the first half and went in 10-6 behind at the break.
They had an ideal start to the second half though when Marc Sneyd’s high kick-off was spilled by Lumb in a tackle by Luke Yates and that gave Warrington some field position, but they couldn’t take advantage of three sets on the line to reduce the deficit.
In fact it was Leeds who got the first points of the second half. Pressure by Tom Holroyd meant Sneyd’s kick didn’t go as far as intended, and with the Warrington chase all offside following an awkward bounce of the ball, Ryan Hall brought the ball back within a few metres of the line.
A few tackles later and Hall was finishing acrobatically in the right corner after Connor and Brodie Croft had lured in the Warrington defence and the Rhinos led 14-6.
Ratchford got Warrington back in the match with a really smart finish, reaching out with his left arm to touch down, but they required a bit of luck in the final stages to nab the win.
Warrington: Dufty, Jake Thewlis (t), Ratchford (t), Currie, Lindop (t), Williams, Sneyd (2g), Musgrove, Walker, Vaughan, Holroyd, Fitzgibbon, Harrison. Subs: Philbin, Yates, Wood, Powell.
Leeds: Miller, Lumb (t), Newman, Handley, Hall (t), Croft, Connor (1g), Oledzki, O’Connor, Jenkins, Bentley, McDonnell, Palasia. Subs: Holroyd, Sinfield, Gannon, Lisone.
Is that the match winner? 🤔
Jake Thewlis goes over in the corner to give @WarringtonRLFC the lead 🐺#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/b9VZiY7Vst
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) March 28, 2025
