Leeds Rhinos 24 Warrington Wolves 18: Coach Rohan Smith still not looking at table as Rhinos climb up to fifth

Resurgent Leeds Rhinos are up to fifth in Betfred Super League after another hard-fought win, 24-18 over Warrington Wolves at Headingley on Friday night.

All Leeds’s points came in the first half, when they were very clinical, scoring four tries – and wasting only one opportunity – to take a firm grip on the game.

Captain Ash Handley, making his 150th career appearance, opened the scoring after five minutes, the first time Leeds had passed the halfway line.

Martin’s pass sent Richie Myler into a gap and Handley was on his shoulder, in the middle of the pitch, to cross for his 17th try of the season.

After 13 minutes Aidan Sezer made a break as referee Marcus Griffiths signalled a set restart, but the scrum-half lost the ball in a tackle and Warrington scored on the counter through Riley Dean. The half-back’s kick close to the line rebounded straight back to him off a defender and he gathered to nip over from a try which Peter Mata’utia converted to level the scores.

Rhinos went back in front after they turned down the two from a penalty in front of the posts and Smith and Blake Austin got the ball to James Bentley who slipped out a terrific pass for Rhyse Martin to cross.

That was lovely stuff and Leeds were in again soon afterwards through a remarkable finish from Morgan Gannon who ran a nice line and did remarkably well to take Dean over the line with him and get the ball down.

Warrington did most of the attacking for the rest of the half, without really troubling Leeds, who hit them with a sucker punch on the final play, which was to prove decisive at the end.

Blake Austin’s towering kick was dropped by Matt Dufty, Handley reacted well to pick up and feed Zane Tetevano and he powered over.

The conversion by Martin, after the hooter, made it 24-6 and that was a long way back for Warrington.

The visitors had to wait until the 46th minute for their first penalty and made it count through Jake Wardle, who dummied over from Dean’s pass. Mata’utia added the extras from wide out. Ben Currie scored a converted try with nine minutes to but Wolves couldn’t pull it back.

Leeds coach Rohan Smith said he wasn’t bothered about the table after a victory which lifts them to a season-high fifth place in Betfred Super League.

“The table is not of any interest to me,” Smith said. “Every game is like a final to me.

“I thought we defended our line extremely well for the whole game. It was an extremely disjointed performance in the second half but defence got us the victory today.

“We can improve but it’s time to reflect and enjoy the defensive performance and that roar at full-time gives me goose bumps thinking about it.

“We are going to have to win different ways and it was pleasing to be able to defend our way to a win.

“I thought Rhyse Martin’s first-half carries were good - they couldn’t tackle him - but everyone needed to turn up to turn them away.”

Leeds: Myler, Tindall, Hardaker, Sutcliffe, Handley, Austin, Sezer, Bentley, Martin, Gannon, Tetevano, O’Connor, Oledzki. Substitutes: Smith, Dwyer, Prior, Walters.

Warrington: Dufty, Minikin, Mata’utia, Wardle, Ashton, Williams, Dean, Mulhern, Walker, Bullock, Currie, Harrison, Holmes. Substitutes: D. Clark, J. Clark, Holroyd, Thomas.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths (RFL)