Trinity’s winning run was halted this evening as Leeds Rhinos hung on for a 16-18 victory at the Beaumont Legal Stadium.
The hosts went into the game on the back of seven straight victories, but came unstuck against a strong Rhinos outfit who scored tries through Tom Briscoe (2), Joel Moon and Stevie Ward. Trinity’s tries came through Mason-Caton Brown, Kyle Wood and Ben Jones-Bishop.
Chris Chester’s men opened the scoring on five minutes when Bill Tupou caught Danny McGuire’s kick before slipping the pass out to Caton-Brown, who did the rest with ease. Liam Finn added the extras to give Trinity a 6-0 lead.
It wasn’t long before Trinity forced their way over the line again and the second try came in the shape of Wood, his first four-pointer of the season. Sam Williams and Dean Hadley combined down the right before some great feet from Wood nudged Trinity further ahead. Finn was unable to add the difficult conversion.
The Rhinos then managed to claw their way back and crossed for back-to-back tries. The first came on 19 minutes when Ward found his way to the line after good play from Keith Galloway and Brad Singleton. Just two minutes later, Leeds found themselves only two points adrift after classy centre play from Kallum Watkins sent Briscoe over in the corner.
There were no more points in a tight and tense first-half and Trinity have Hadley to thank for that after he stopped Mitch Garbutt from dotting down.
The second-half started in similar fashion to the first-half, with Trinity on the front foot. However, when Williams found a hole in the Rhinos defence, Grix was unable to capitalise and only found touch with his long pass.
The Rhinos managed to stay in the game and were rewarded for their resilience on 58 minutes. Moon kept the ball alive on the last tackle and it ended up in the arms of Briscoe, who crossed for his second try, nudging Leeds 10-12 ahead.
That moment sparked a shift in momentum and Leeds managed to extend their lead just moments later. Scott Grix and Jones-Bishop were unable to deal with McGuire’s teasing kick and Moon profited by finishing from close range. Sutcliffe added the extras to put his side 10-18 up with 20 minutes remaining.
Wakefield managed to give themselves some hope after Jones-Bishop’s 15th try of the campaign and Finn’s conversion brought the score to 16-18, but the Rhinos held on to claim the victory.
Full Time: Wakefield Trinity 16 – 18 Leeds Rhinos
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