Round 11
Leeds Rhinos 32 d. Warrington Wolves 12

2008 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Donald races to top position as Leeds defeat Wolves
Sat April 12, 2008
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Leeds Rhinos flier Scott Donald won the battle of engage Super League leading tryscorers as the champions bounced back from their first home defeat of the season to consolidate their place at the top of the table.

The left winger touched down in each half to take his tally for the season to 12 and edge ahead of his former Manly Sea Eagles team-mate Chris Hicks, the Warrington Wolves right winger whose 68th-minute try came too late to affect the outcome.

Donald's first try, a superb solo effort on 28 minutes, brought the Rhinos level after Warrington had made the brighter start and took the lead with Louis Anderson's eighth-minute try.

Leeds, already without six senior players through injury, suffered another major blow when Gareth Ellis went off with an ankle injury after only 14 minutes but they went on to dominate the second half.

Warrington, too, suffered a setback when full-back Stuart Reardon went off four minutes into the second half but they battled admirably before being condemned to a third successive defeat.

Wolves coach Paul Cullen was forced into a last-minute reshuffle when former Great Britain second rower Paul Johnson was injured in the warm-up, with youngster Lee Mitchell coming into the side, but the visitors opened the scoring on seven minutes when influential scrum-half Michael Monaghan sent Anderson through a gap.

Hicks, who went into the game level on tries with Donald at the top of the engage Super League list, added the goal to put his side into a 6-0 lead.

But the champions struck back on 28 minutes when Donald demonstrated both power and pace to get past Hicks and speed away from the cover to register his try.

Skipper Kevin Sinfield levelled the scores with the conversion, extending his scoring sequence to 53 matches, and he edged his side in front with an injury-time penalty after Warrington were caught offside in front of their own posts.

Warrington fell further behind when Donald scored his second try six minutes into the second half but this time in unfortunate circumstances.

Leeds' attack looked to have stalled when Brent Webb's mis-directed pass went behind centre Keith Senior but the Kiwi full-back made up for his error by regathering the loose ball and, with Chris Riley out of position, sent Donald in unopposed for his 12th try of the season.

Sinfield added his second conversion and on 55 minutes kicked a second penalty to extend his side's lead to 16-6.

It went from bad to worse for the visitors when hooker Jon Clarke was sin-binned for dissent on 58 minutes and Leeds instantly made the extra man count, with Carl Ablett crossing at the corner for his side's third try.

Sinfield maintained his 100% record with the touchline conversion to make the game safe at 22-6.

Hicks grabbed a consolation try, courtesy of a cut-out pass from Monaghan, and added the goal but Leeds finished well on top and wrapped up their ninth win of the season with late tries from Rob Burrow and Luke Burgess, Sinfield taking his goal tally to six.

Report source: www.superleague.co.uk

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