By DANNY LOCKWOOD
THE Leeds Rhinos have always valued and celebrated their heritage. The grand old Headingley stadium is a living, breathing chronicle of many of the iconic moments and sportsmen that have marked and graced its journey down the ages.
The club’s moving act of remembrance that preceded this game was typical of the way the Rhinos plug into not just the rugby brotherhood but their wider community. They are a big part of the city of Leeds fabric.
It’s unlikely that 2016 will feature prominently in the club’s annals – unless, in years hence it is remembered as the year they literally hit rock bottom, but began their climb back to pre-eminence.
Indeed if the Headingley Historical Society is looking for a new name for any of it’s bars, rooms or conference suites, they might like the sound of “The Mark Twain Room”. The American author was famous for, among other things, his memorable quote that reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated’.
The coffin is already in the ground of the 2016 campaign, but the sight of what’s climbing out of the grave is certain to put the frighteners on the four Championship clubs who will have to face them in the coming weeks.
There can’t have been many occasions in rugby league history, let alone Super League history, where the bottom placed club has dumped the table-toppers on the seats of their pants in consecutive weeks.
A Leeds team almost fully back to strength, but without club skipper Danny McGuire, achieved just that on Friday night and in doing so brought an abrupt end to Wigan’s impressive winning run. In mitigation for the Warriors, this was very much a role reversal of the season’s previous clashes between the pair, when Leeds were down to the bare bones of bodies, and Wigan were at greater strength.
Losing captain Sean O’Loughlin to his one-match suspension was a blow they could barely sfford given the other numerous names on the casualty list. Both, Tomkinses, Farrell, Bateman, Clubb, McIlorum, Crosby, Gelling – It’s tough to cover that scale of absences. It’s testimony to both the resilience of anyone who dons the Wigan shirt they came so close to pulling off a quite remarkable win.
Against the dispirited Leeds sides we witnessed earlier in the season they might have managed that, but the return of the big names aside, the Rhinos players scrapped and fought for the badge and their teammates in a manner that has been notably absent for months. Having a bench consisting of Cuthbertson, Delaney, Ferres and Keinhorst tells a story too.
The tight first half was characterized by some intriguing contests between potential England players.
Dan Sarginson was a rare highlight for England when he broke into the side although I’m not sure he’s currently operating consistently enough to be one of the starting centres. Opposite him, Kallum Watkins showed a renewed appetite for the burst of pace followed up real strength and determination to earn the opening try, was heartening indeed.
Ryan Hall and Tom Briscoe have been shoo-ins on the wing at times, but Dom Manfredi is in pole position this term and the manner in which he defended three consecutive high balls with copybook high-handed takes would definitely have impressed coach Wayne Bennett.
Josh Charnley has had his times out of favour at Wigan, let alone England, but he’s been in excellent form this season and was at Headingley too. It’s a real shame we’re losing him to Union.
Neither side was particularly clinical in a first half that ended 6-4 after a clever combination between George Williams and Charnley kept them in touch.
And then a second half that looked like it might be a surprising blow-out, when the Leeds towards provided the edge via Cuthbertson and Ferres to stretch the margin to 18-4, proved anything but.
Jordan Lilley produced a mature performance for the Rhinos, but Williams was very impressive throughout, accurate with both hand and foot and willing to attack the line which is when he’s at his best.
Leeds put themselves under the cosh massively around the hour mark when the score was 12-4 and they were lucky to see a Charnley effort ruled out for a double movement. They weathered that storm and promptly hit Wigan with a sucker punch through Ferres.
A 14-point lead with 14 minutes on the clock was only just enough though. This Wigan side never gives up and when they crossed twice in three minutes, the pick being Williams doing a pocket-rocket impression on last tackle, all bets were off.
It’s understandable if the Leeds players were tiring – some can only just be getting up to match fitness given the late starts they’ve had.
Ultimately there was just enough of a combination of wind and desperation amongst the old heads to keep their line intact. If Wigan have struggled at times this year it’s been in finding points and so it proved in a frantic last five minutes. They had the last use of the ball from deep in their own territory but when Taulima Tautal spilled a clumpsy play-the-ball – my pet hate of 2016 – last year’s treble winners were home and hosed.
The only regret I had from a thrilling contest was the fact that the Rhino resurgence has come just too late to sneak them into eighth spot. That really would have made the Super 8s interesting.
