Warrington 12 Leeds Rhinos 16: Myler in winning start to life with Rhinos

Richie Myler returned to haunt his old club as Leeds Rhinos made an impressive start to the defence of their Betfred Super League title with a rousing '¨16-12 win at Warrington.
Rhinos' Ryan Hall celebrates his second try.Rhinos' Ryan Hall celebrates his second try.
Rhinos' Ryan Hall celebrates his second try.

England winger Ryan Hall, one of 12 members of their Grand Final-winning team, provided the highlight with a brace of tries as the Rhinos condemned Steve Price to defeat in his first competitive match as head coach.

Teenage full-back Jack Walker also impressed, along with Myler, who was chosen to fill the boots of departed skipper Danny McGuire and warmed the hearts of the visiting fans at a chilly Halliwell Jones Stadium with a superb all-round display.

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The champions were forced to withstand a late fightback from the home side, who scored a try through Tom Lineham with just two minutes left, although captain Chris Hill missed the late thrills as he left the ground early after his wife went into labour with their fourth child.

After a tentative opening, Leeds found a purple patch to score two tries in four minutes, both from kicks by their half-backs.

Evergreen second rower Jamie Jones-Buchanan rolled back the years to athletically take Joel Moon’s high kick to force his way over for the first before Hall collected Myler’s chip over the defence to crash over. Kallum Watkins, in his first match as captain, added one conversion and increased his side’s lead to 12-0 with a 26th-minute penalty.

The Wolves were out of sorts in the opening quarter, with full-back Stefan Ratchford putting his side under pressure with two handling errors, but they gradually clawed their way back into the contest.

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Centre Bryson Goodwin, who went off after 14 minutes for running repairs to a head wound, showed a touch of class on his Super League debut, cutting inside for a try to which he added the goal, and the home side might have been level by the break had Ben Westwood been able to hold onto a pass close to the line.

Leeds had to produce some determined scrambling defence at times to preserve their lead, with Myler, who scored 81 tries in 145 appearances for Warrington from 2010-2015, and 18-year-old Walker prominent as Ryan Atkins and Goodwin were both held up over the line.

It was against the run of play when Leeds went in for their third and decisive try on 54 minutes, Hall racing in from 80 metres and easily rounding the unfortunate Ratchford on the way.

Forwards Brad Singleton and Jack Ormondroyd were both held up over the line as the Rhinos maintained control but Atkins went close at the other end before Lineham went in for what proved to be a consolation try as Leeds secured their first away win over Warrington since 2011.

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McDermott said it is too early to get carried away with the win.

McDermott had not won a Super League game at HJ Stadium as Leeds boss and he rated the performance as “okay to good”.

“I am really pleased we won and there was a lot of tackling practice from us,” he said.

“Warrington will be better than that and that made it easier for us to defend. We will have to be better.

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“It is a big moment because I am sick of coming here and explaining why we lost.

“It was a good win.”

McDermott felt all three debutants – Richie Myler, Brad Dwyer and Nathaniel Peteru – played well, hailed Hall for his stunning match-winning try and described teenage full-back Jack Walker’s performance as “great”.

McDermott added: “Some of our attack was good, but we need to be better as well. Our overall performance was good, but some moments in it were silly. Our game management in the last 15 minutes was crazy

Warrington: Ratchford, Lineham, Goodwin, Atkins, Russell, K. Brown, Roberts, Hill, Clark, Cooper, Currie, Hughes, Murdoch-Masila. Substitutes: Westwood, Philbin, G. King, Patton.

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Leeds: Walker, Briscoe, Watkins, L. Sutcliffe, Hall, Moon, Myler, Cuthbertson, Parcell, Singleton, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Delaney. Substitutes: Dwyer, Mullally, Peteru, Ormondroyd.

Referee: P Bentham (RFL).