Ryan Brierley has his say on Warrington Wolves star’s major blunder against Leeds Rhinos

Leeds Rhinos have now closed the gap on Warrington Wolves and the rest of the top six down to just two points after defeating the Wolves 24-22 in a thrilling contest at Headingley.

Leeds trailed 12-6 and 16-12 in the second half but tries from Luke Hooley and James Bentley fired the Rhinos ahead.

Warrington gave themselves a chance of snatching it when they scored through Matty Nicholson and at the death Matt Dufty could have scored a winner but dropped a Stefan Ratchford grubber kick with the line at his mercy.

Speaking on the OurLeague app, fellow fullback Ryan Brierley of the Salford Red Devils had his say.

He said: “We’ve probably seen the best and worst of Matt Dufty today. It’s to win the game and he drops it cold.

“The last moments of big games, they’re the moments I enjoy the most. You can be so good for 79 minutes 50 seconds, Matt Dufty was arguably Warrington’s best player.

“Then in the last second of the game, just drops the ball cold over the line. Heartbreaking for Matt Dufty and Warrington.”

Brierley noted that it was a “cruel” way to lose the game as he suggested Warrington were the better team for large parts of the game:

“For me Dufty was probably Warrington’s best player alongside George Williams. Just the cruel nature of sport isn’t it?

“They could have snatched the game. And I don’t think you can argue we were too winning the game.

“I think they were probably the stronger team for larger parts of the game. But Leeds just like they did last year, this time, this time here, they find a way don’t they?

“They find a way consistently at the back end of seasons to pick up points, to put themselves in a situation where they can reach the promised land again.”

Warrington are currently on 22 points with Leeds now on 20 points. They also have the best point difference towards the bottom of the table so have a real shot at making the top six.

For Warrington it would be unthinkable that they could miss out on the top six earlier this year.