Leeds Rhinos' focus impresses Brad Arthur in rout of vulnerable Wigan Warriors

Tries from Harry Newman, Lachie Miller, James McDonnell and Rhyse Martin, who also produced a flawless kicking display, secured a surprisingly one-sided win and closed the gap on sixth place to four points.

Wigan, who were knocked off the top of the table on points difference by Hull KR on Friday, scored a late consolation try through Liam Marshall but found a third game in 10 days a step too far at Headingley.

The visitors also ended the game with 12 men after Harry Smith was sent off for a deliberate forearm to the head of James Bentley as he lay on the ground following a tackle.

Interim Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur was pleased with his side’s performance, but stressed the need to reproduce such form on a consistent basis.

“We’ve been chasing that 80-minute effort and I thought we did that today,” Arthur said. “I’m disappointed that we leaked a try because I felt like we’d done enough and we’d worked hard enough.

“We lacked a little bit of detail at times under pressure but we’re getting better at it. You can see some signs. It’s very hard for me to be critical because they’ve worked their backsides off today.

“In our last four games we’ve started really well and then around that 25-minute mark we’ve fallen into a bit of a hole. That was a bit of a focus today. We made a couple of errors but then we defended them in the first half five times.”

Asked if the win made him excited about the possibility of staying at the club next season, Arthur added: “Yeah it does, but they need to show me that again next week and then the week after that.”

Wigan had enjoyed plenty of early possession within sight of the Leeds line but lacked the guile to unpick a well-organised defence before the home side broke the deadlock with a long-range try in the 17th minute.

Miller sent Martin free down the left and kept pace with his team-mate to receive a return pass before feeding Newman to score.

Newman was tackled over the line by returning full-back Jai Field – who had been rested against Leigh in midweek – and video referee Ben Thaler was asked to check if Newman had successfully grounded the ball before awarding the try, with Martin adding the simple conversion.

Leeds extended their lead shortly before half-time when former Rhinos player Sam Walters was penalised for a high tackle on Bentley. Arthur immediately signalled from the bench to take the two points on offer and Martin duly obliged.

Martin was on target again early in the second half after Wigan were penalised for offside after a break from Miller, although the Australian arguably took the wrong option by stepping inside to try to score himself when Newman looked free to his left.

Miller made amends in the 55th minute when he finished off a slick passing move in the corner, twisting in the tackle and stretching out with his left hand to ground the ball.

A miserable afternoon for the Warriors soon got worse as Adam Keighran was sent to the sin-binfor a high tackle on Martin, who slotted home the penalty before McDonnell plunged over from close range for the Rhinos’ third try of the match.

Marshall’s late score briefly gave the visiting fans something to cheer before Smith was shown a red card with two minutes remaining, meaning he will miss next week’s game against St Helens.

Martin’s last-gasp try completed the rout and he maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot with the difficult conversion from the touchline.

“Leeds were excellent,” said Wigan coach Matt Peet.

“I thought they defended really well and a lot of what they did with the ball, they put us to the sword.”