Widnes Vikings 23 Leeds Rhinos 6: Trip and injuries take toll on Leeds

The 23-6 reverse was Leeds’ fourth successive defeat at Widnes, but they were without a dozen members of their first team squad – 11 of whom would probably have played if fit – and tiredness from their trip to Australia also took its toll.

Despite that, Rhinos’ inexperienced and lightweight team gave their all. There were big performances from Ashton Golding, at full-back and veteran forwards Brett Delaney – in his 200th game for the club – and Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

Josh Walters, one of seven players playing his first game of the season, had a real dig and Mitch Garbutt, on his return from injury, made an impact off the bench.

There was much to admire about their resolve in defence, particularly in the opening 40 when Rhinos withstood waves of pressure.

But Leeds made too many errors and lack of size meant they never got on the front foot.

With the ball in hand Leeds – understandably – looked like a team who weren’t used to playing together.

That was highlighted when Liam Sutcliffe passed into touch as Rhinos tried to put on a final-tackle play late in the first half, but generally they carried little threat close to Widnes’ line.

Under the circumstances Leeds did well to hang in as long as they did and the game didn’t get away from them until the final 10 minutes, when Rhinos were out on their feet and Widnes scored 11 points to inflate their winning margin.

Leeds were 6-4 ahead at the interval, after having been under the cosh for most of the opening half. A steely determination to protect their line kept the champions in it and they caught Widnes napping late on to go in front.

The hosts regained the lead in the third quarter, but Leeds battled away and didn’t go two scores behind until the 71st minute.

Rhinos had an early spell of pressure, from back-to-back penalties – one for a dangerous throw by Tom Olbison on Brad Singleton – and a Matt Whitley knock-on, but the hosts held out comfortably and once they got on the front foot, they threatened to grind Leeds down.

Whitley’s tackle kept Kallum Watkins out, but then visitors had a let off when Rhys Hanbury made a break, only for Danny Craven to spill the pass.

His hands let him down again – dropping another pass from Hanbury – when Widnes created a three versus two overlap on Rhinos’ right-side.

A fine cross kick by Tom Gilmore picked out Krisnan Inu, but he could not take it a couple of metres out.

A Vikings try was coming and it arrived on 20 minutes. Leeds were pressing when Richie Myler kicked straight at Chris Dean.

The scrum-half recovered to make the tackle, but Rhinos were caught offside and in the resulting set Joe Mellor stepped over following a smart offload from Papua New Guinean forward Wellington Albert.

Mellor and half-back partner Tom Gilmore caused Leeds problems throughout, in tandem with Hanbury who was a constant attacking threat from full-back.

Five minutes after the try Hanbury made a clean break with Mellor in support. He took the pass and looked a certain scorer, but Golding got back to make a stunning try-saving tackle and then – after a drop-out – Kallum Watkins then made a fine tackle to keep Hanbury out.