McDermott fumes at Leeds’s discipline

A 42-6 home defeat by the Wolves, who took their points tally in the month of May to a mammoth 354, was another rude awakening for the Rhinos as their six-match winning run came to a shuddering halt.

Leeds’s most recent defeat was a 38-6 Headingley humiliation at the hands of second-placed Huddersfield last month and Friday’s seven-try rout by the Engage Super League leaders means McDermott’s side have failed to beat any of the teams above them in the table so far this year.

“The times we’ve played some of the big teams, the teams at the top of the ladder, we haven’t come up with the goods and that’s something that doesn’t sit well with us,” said McDermott.

Warrington scored 12 points in the last five minutes but McDermott had no argument over the scoreline and was critical of his players’ indiscipline.

“I don’t think it was one of those cases where the scoreline doesn’t suggest the outcome of the game,” he said.

“I thought it did.

“Warrington deserve a lot of credit because I thought they played the field position very well. It was 26 minutes before we had a real good attacking position in the second half.

“We just didn’t have any field position whatsoever. Our ball control was poor and our discipline was very poor.

“Whether (referee) James Child has made a bad call or not doesn’t interest me. We got far too wrapped up in him rather than the things we could control.”

Veteran stand-off Lee Briers, who smashed his club’s points-scoring record in Warrington’s 112-0 Challenge Cup win over Swinton a week ago, again led the way with a brace of tries as the leaders go from strength to strength.

The only disappointment for Warrington was the loss of winger Joel Monaghan with a knee injury.

“He’s not great,” said Wolves coach Tony Smith. “I think it’s a medial ligament problem.”