Wigan bow to Leeds quality

6:30am Saturday 27th September 2008

Leeds 18 Wigan 14

LEEDS demonstrated all their champion qualities to see off the brave challenge of Wigan and set up a repeat of last year’s Super League Grand Final against St Helens at Old Trafford next Saturday.

The Rhinos bounced back in style from their crushing defeat by Saints a week earlier to secure a fifth trip to Old Trafford with a well-earned victory in a tense and dramatic final eliminator at Headingley.

The Rhinos edged an enthralling first half, with winger Lee Smith scoring the only try, but the Warriors – who arrived less than an hour before kick-off due to motorway congestion – were well in the hunt until centre Keith Senior grabbed the all-important match-clincher on the hour.

The champions dominated much of the match but were continually thwarted by former winger Mark Calderwood, who pulled off four try-saving tackles to keep the Warriors’ hopes alive on his final appearance for them.

But there was no denying the superiority of Brian McClennan’s men.

It was physical, at times brutal, but entirely compelling, with two players sin-binned and two others placed on report for alleged foul play in a frenetic match.

Wigan battled to the end and were rewarded with a late tries by Harrison Hansen and Iafeta Paleaaesina but the final whistle signalled the end of the road for acting captain Trent Barrett, who will return to Australia next month without a Grand Final appearance, while Calderwood, Liam Colbon and Mickey Higham also brought their Warriors’ career to an end.

There was a hint of things to come on 10 minutes when Smith was put on report for apparently kicking Wigan second rower Phil Bailey in the face. Whether that was accidental or deliberate will be determined on Monday by the League’s match review panel, who will also be interested in examining a free-for-all involving around half the 26 players.

It stemmed from a superb tackle by Calderwood, who halted Jones-Buchanan, but then conceded a penalty by diving on the ball from an offside position. Calderwood was shown the yellow card while Senior joined him in the sin bin for his part in the fracas.

Kevin Sinfield kicked the resulting penalty but Richards cancelled it on 30 minutes.

The stalemate was finally broken six minutes before the break when Matt Diskin combined with Sinfield to get stand-off Danny McGuire racing into half a gap and Smith brought down his high pass to touch down.

The drama continued in the second half with Calderwood again in the thick of the action. First the former Leeds favourite pulled off another fine tackle to stop Senior then got his body underneath Lauitiiti to prevent the substitute grounding the ball.

It was all Leeds in the third quarter and Calderwood came to Wigan’s rescue again to stop Rob Burrow in full flight for the line.

The pressure looked to have finally told on the Wigan line when Jamie Peacock proved unstoppable from 10 metres out but, after spending five minutes examining replays, video referee Ian Smith decided the ball was not grounded.

The jeers of the home fans quickly turned to cheers, however, when Lauitiiti was again involved down the left and Senior took winger Scott Donald’s pass to touch down.

Sinfield landed the conversion and added a second penalty to give his side some breathing space at 14-2.

Wigan’s late rally brought tries for Hansen and Paleaaesina, both converted by Richards, but Smith pounced on a handling error to score an opportunist try and keep the Rhinos just in front.