Wigan Warriors 18-40 Leeds Rhinos: Highlights, Player Ratings and Talking Points

14-6 down, a man down at the break and facing a third consecutive defeat and Leeds Rhinos some how found a way to win tonight as Wigan Warriors imploded.

Highlights:

Wigan strike first
Wigan were building pressure at the start of the game but needed to strike first and they did with a lovely passing play down the right with Abbas Miski finishing in the corner.

French burrows over
Usually a player who strikes from long rage with brilliant pace, tonight French burrowed over despite the attention of three defenders to make it 12-0 and shortly after a penalty from Harry Smith made it 14-0.

Newman gives Leeds hope
One of Leeds’ star men produced a play that then gave the Rhinos hope as Harry Newman picked up an intercept streaking away outpacing Bevan French to score.

Tetevano sees red
Just as Leeds had some of the momentum back, Zane Tetevano hit Harry Smith late and was deemed to have made contact with the head and was subsequently sent off.

Holroyd powers over at the start of the second half
It looked like game over at halftime but a simple Tom Holroyd try as he powered over from close range made it a 2-point game.

Myler capitalises on chaos
Remarkably Leeds then took the lead as a bomb from Richie Myler wasn’t dealt with and Cameron Smith claimed it feeding Myler to score.

Thornley strikes back
After a whirlwind from Leeds an unfortunate penalty from the Rhinos gave Wigan attacking possession and a lovely ball over the top from Harry Smith gave Iain Thornley acres of space to finish in the corner.

Fool me once..
To pull off an intercept to score once is always impressive but Harry Newman pulled it off a second time to give Leeds the lead again in the second half just after the hour mark.

Martin gives Leeds a 10-point lead
A lovely Justin Sangare offload opened up space for Leeds and Rhyse Martin then powered over.

Smith seals it
With 12 men it wasn’t quite settled until a simple Cameron Smith try saw the loose-forward tear through the heart of the Warriors to score.

Tindall seals it
A third intercept took Leeds to 40 as Liam Tindall scored his first Leeds try since 2020 from long range.

Talking Points:

Wigan collapse
It is really worrying the way Wigan collapsed. You don’t usually question Wigan’s composure especially after their wins against St Helens and Warrington Wolves but they imploded tonight.

Rhinos inconsistent
In the first half Leeds were very off and looked headed for a hiding but instead they blew Wigan away in the second half. You have to question why Leeds can’t do that week in and week out and for the full 80.

Red Card
It is inevitable that these kind of tackles will be punished the way they have been clamped down. It will be interesting to see what Rohan Smith made of it.

Player Ratings:

Wigan Warriors
2 Bevan French – 7
23 Abbas Miski – 6
3 Toby King – 5
4 Jake Wardle – 5
21 Iain Thornley – 6
19 Joe Shorrocks – 5
7 Harry Smith – 6
16 Ethan Havard – 5
9 Sam Powell – 5
10 Liam Byrne – 5
11 Willie Isa – 5
12 Liam Farrell – 5
13 Morgan Smithies – 5
Substitutes
6 Cade Cust – 5
17 Kai Pearce-Paul – 5
22 Brad O’Neill – 5
20 Patrick Mago – 5

Leeds Rhinos
5 Ash Handley – 7
23 Liam Tindall – 7
3 Harry Newman – 8
12 Rhyse Martin – 8
4 Nene MacDonald – 8
6 Blake Austin – 8
1 Richie Myler – 8
8 Mikolaj Oledzki – 7
14 Jarrod O’Connor – 8
15 Sam Lisone – 7
10 Zane Tetevano – 5
11 James Bentley – N/A
13 Cameron Smith – 8
Substitutes
17 Justin Sangare – 8
18 Tom Holroyd – 8
20 Morgan Gannon – 8
25 James Donaldson – 7