Wakefield Trinity 24 Leeds Rhinos 14

In hot conditions at the Be Well Support Stadium, Leeds Rhinos lost out 24-14 to Wakefield Trinity in round 15 of the Betfred Super League. 

Blake Austin, Cam Smith and debutant Leon Ruan scored the tries for the Rhinos but ten points in the final twenty minutes from Trinity saw the away side lose their grip on the lead.

Rohan Smith gave young forward Ruan his Super League debut as he came from the bench. Derrell Olpherts dropped out of the squad in place of Liam Tindall, who started outside of Rhyse Martin, whilst Ash Handley continued at full back. 

Despite showing early signs of scoring through Mikolaj Oledzki and Blake Austin, the Rhinos hit a roadblock as Wakefield scored two quick tries in the opening 20 minutes of the game. 

Wakefield started their set close to the Leeds line after the Rhinos ran the ball on the last tackle of their attacking set, and Trinity used the position to their advantage. Kevin Proctor and Eddie Battye got the home side within range, before Morgan Smith’s kick out wide was batted back by Lee Kershaw into the hands of Jack Croft to get the opening try.

Trinity’s Romain Franco added the second minutes later. Nene Macdonald had a major opportunity to hit back for the away side but couldn’t get his hands right to finish in the corner. Off the back of the chance, Wakefield moved the ball through the hands to get Franco in space to touch down and make the score 10-0.

Soon after, debutant Ruan marked his dream debut with an important try before the break. Coming on in place of Macdonald, who was taken from the field for a HIA, the former Doncaster player was in the right place to take Myler’s pass and hit a hole to level to score. Martin’s conversion was wide, sending the teams into the break level at 10-all.

A dramatic start to the second half saw Wakefield turn the ball over quickly as Martin was unable to take the restart, before Hugo Salabio was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on Handley. 

Leeds sensed a chance to take the game by the scruff of the neck but Will Dagger’s penalty goal gave the home side breathing space with twelve men on the field.  Nevertheless, Austin responded with a great solo effort that saw the half back slice through the Wakefield line and fend off full back Jowitt to make the score 14-12 to the away side.

A second penalty goal from Dagger, after a high tackle against Leeds, saw Trinity level the score again but Mark Applegarth’s side were quick to keep the points coming. 

Matty Ashurst took advantage of Handley’s sin binning for a professional foul, to take the score to 18-14, and then Morgan Smith made the gap ten points as he beat Myler in the air to score.

The Rhinos tried to rally in the heat, but the full time whistle brought an end to proceedings, the final score 24-14.