Late try saves Leeds
Leeds Rhinos moved to the top of Super League after a late try from Danny McGuire gave them victory over Warrington.
Last Updated: 09/03/09 10:28am
Tony Smith's first game in charge at Warrington ended in defeat after a late try from Danny McGuire gave Leeds Rhinos a 20-14 victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Smith, who guided Leeds to two championships in four years between 2004 and 2007, signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the Wolves earlier in the week.
Warrington have now lost nine matches in succession dating back to the end of last season but they will feel hard done by not to have gained at least a point against the Rhinos.
Leeds were 12-0 ahead after six minutes thanks to converted tries from Carl Ablett and Kevin Sinfield but Warrington hit back with scores from Lee Briers, Mickey Higham and Chris Hicks to level the match at 14-14 shortly before the hour mark.
Dominant
Warrington were largely dominant throughout and only poor handling and excellent defending denied them further tries.
But McGuire capitalised on an error from Wolves full-back Chris Riley to seal victory for the visiting side in the 70th minute.
The Super League champions were missing Keith Senior and Matt Diskin while Jamie Peacock started on the bench.
But they quickly established a firm hold on proceedings and caught Warrington cold inside the third minute.
McGuire chipped a kick behind the home defence and the bounce deceived a pair of Warrington players, allowing Ablett to gratefully collect possession and touch down.
Pressure
Moments later a delightful 40-20 kick from 19-year-old Paul McShane gave Leeds the field position, which led to Rob Burrow ushering Sinfield over the line from close range.
Sinfield converted both tries to put Leeds 12-0 ahead but Warrington woke up and enjoyed a spell of sustained pressure, which led to a try from Briers in the 14th minute.
The stand-off glided his way through the visiting rearguard and a clever dummy gave him the space to crash over for a try, which Hicks failed to convert.
Warrington then began to dominate and stretched Leeds on several occasions with promising moves that they failed to finish off.
Wolves scrum-half Micheal Monaghan almost put Paul Johnson over in the left corner in the 17th minute and, shortly after the half-hour mark, Leeds wing Scott Donald made a try-saving tackle on Johnson in the same spot.
A penalty from Sinfield gave Leeds a little breathing space in the 34th minute but the momentum remained with Warrington and they were rewarded a minute before half-time when Higham barged his way over from close range for a try.
Excellent Defending
Warrington's territorial dominance continued after the break, with Monaghan's neat offload almost putting Matt King over in the 54th minute, only to be denied by some excellent Leeds defending.
Yet the Wolves continued to probe and claimed their third score in the 57th minute when Hicks collected a pass from Martin Gleeson and touched down in the corner to cap a fine move.
Hicks failed to add the conversion that would have put Warrington ahead for the first time and tensions boiled over soon after when Louis Anderson was placed on report for trading punches with Leeds prop Ryan Bailey.
Then in the 70th minute Riley tried to run the ball out of defence but was tackled by Jamie Jones-Buchanan and McGuire collected possession before scampering through a gap to touch down for Leeds.
Sinfield added the conversion for his fourth goal to complete a fine individual performance.
