LEEDS RHINOS 8 WIGAN WARRIORS 40
STEPHEN IBBETSON, AMT Headingley, Saturday

NOT for the first time, Bevan French reached into his box of tricks on the big occasion to give Wigan one hand on the League Leaders’ Shield at Leeds’ expense.

The Warriors led for all but eight minutes of this winner-takes-all clash between the two remaining contenders for top spot at a sold-out and, at first, raucous Headingley.

While nothing separated them across the opening 25 rounds, by full-time here there was a chasm, both in attacking skill and defensive resolve.

French set up two tries in the first half with audacious passes, then wrapped up the victory late with a try of his own and a third assist.

While Wigan, who also got a hat-trick of tries and six goals from Adam Keighran, must still beat Catalans at home next Friday to confirm the Shield, the chances of a slip-up after winning 15 matches in a row since Challenge Cup glory at Wembley appear very slim.

And just like with their women’s side, who crushed Leeds in the first part of a double-header, it will take something special to stop Wigan going on to win a treble.

Wigan struck with two fantastic early tries finished by Keighran, although the first blow to the hosts’ was Lachlan Miller pulling up with an injury as he ran the ball in the seventh minute.

Austin Daniel, called-up for Jake Wardle who suffered a calf injury in the week, took full advantage with a brilliant run, evading the challenges of both Miller’s replacements – Zak Lloyd from the bench, and Chris Hankinson having moved to fullback – and offloading for his centre .

Then Bevan French weaved his magic, kicking a 40/20 and following it up with a delicious bullet pass onto the precise running line of Keighran.

Ash Handley was the man caught out to allow Keighran through, but made quick amends by leaping high to claim a Jake Connor kick and, just as impressively, smuggle it down over the line, with Connor also adding the goal.

Tom Holroyd’s introduction added further impetus to the Rhinos but instead of taking advantage of their next attack, they let Wigan march them back and then stood off French, allowing the stand-off to fire a bullet pass which cut out three defenders and landed in the arms of young Daniel with the space to cross.

Keighran arrowed the touchline conversion to make it 16-6, and the Warriors would have gone into half-time even further ahead if not for Harry Newman’s covering tackle on Kaide Ellis after a Sam Walters break.

Instead Connor kicked a penalty, awarded for offside, after the hooter from more than 40 metres out to narrow the gap to eight.

That provided renewed hope, and straight from the restart they had Wigan scrambling as first Jai Field made a try-saving tackle on Lloyd, then Handley was forced out in the corner by desperate defence.

But in a pivotal few minutes, the Warriors carried to the other end and Harry Smith sent a long ball out for Zach Eckersley to put Liam Marshall in, with home cries for an earlier knock-on falling on deaf ears.

Leeds had further attacking opportunities, but Wigan’s defensive will was simply too strong, notably keeping another Handley charge at bay.

And so the match was wrapped up when Smith improvised a kick into space behind scrambled defence for halfback partner French to run onto and score in front of the ecstatic away supporters.

French still had on final trick, slipping the ball to fullback Field to slice through, while another Smith kick led to Keighran’s third try to hit 40 points and complete a truly formidable Wigan performance.

GAMESTAR: Bevan French is the man for the big game and showed it once again to devastating effect

GAMEBREAKER: French’s try off an improvised Harry Smith kick clinched Wigan’s emphatic triumph.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Take your pick from either of Bevan French’s early assists or his later try.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Bevan French (Wigan)
2 pts Adam Keighran (Wigan)
1 pt Harry Smith (Wigan)

MATCHFACTS

RHINOS
1 Lachlan Miller
5 Ryan Hall
33 Jack Bird
4 Ash Handley
3 Harry Newman
6 Brodie Croft
7 Jake Connor
8 Mikolaj Oledzki
9 Jarrod O’Connor
15 Cooper Jenkins
11 Kallum Watkins
14 Chris Hankinson
20 Presley Cassell
Subs (all used)
10 Tom Holroyd
17 Cameron Smith
30 Zak Lloyd
31 Matt Lodge
18th man (not used)
28 Fergus McCormack
Also in 21-man squad
2 Maika Sivo
12 James McDonnell
26 Tom Nicholson-Watton

Tries: Handley (15)
Goals: Connor 2/2

WARRIORS
1 Jai Field
38 Austin Daniel
3 Adam Keighran
2 Zach Eckersley
5 Liam Marshall
6 Bevan French
7 Harry Smith
8 Ethan Havard
9 Brad O’Neill
10 Luke Thompson
23 Kian McDermott
17 Oliver Partington
13 Kaide Ellis
Subs (all used)
11 Junior Nsemba
14 Sam Walters
15 Patrick Mago
25 Taylor Kerr
18th man (not used)
33 George O’Loughlin
Also in 21-man squad
4 Jake Wardle
20 Sam Eseh
41 Shea O’Connor

Tries: Keighran (8, 12, 77), Daniel (29), Marshall (44), French (66), Field (71)
Goals: Keighran 6/7

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-10, 6-10, 6-16, 8-16; 8-22, 8-28, 8-34, 8-40

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Rhinos: Tom Holroyd; Warriors: Bevan French

Penalty count: 6-5
Half-time: 8-16
Referee: Liam Moore
Attendance: 19,698