Leeds back at Super League summit as Wakefield suffer 14th successive loss
Last Updated: 07/06/15 9:24pm
Liam Sutcliffe scored a hat-trick as Leeds Rhinos moved back to the top of Super League with a 58-26 rout of Wakefield at Belle Vue.
New Wildcats coach Brian Smith officially takes over Super League's basement outfit on Monday, and he would have been less than impressed watching on from the stands as the team slumped to a 14th straight defeat.
Tom Johnstone had given the Wildcats a shock fourth-minute lead but Sutcliffe quickly brought Leeds level before back-to-back tries from Rhinos stalwarts Rob Burrow and Danny McGuire, his 250th for the club, put the visitors in control.
The Rhinos crucially crossed for a fourth time through Carl Ablett on the stroke of half-time after Pita Godinet's fine effort had put an extra spring in Wakefield's step.
The Wildcats had no answer to Leeds after the break, with the Rhinos scoring seven tries in 19 minutes through Sutcliffe (two), Ash Handley (two), Jimmy Keinhorst and Brad Singleton (two).
Wakefield gave Smith some reason for optimism with late tries from Danny Kirmond, Nick Scruton and Johnstone but the damage had long since been done as they fell to yet another heavy loss.
The Wildcats got off to a dream start as Tim Smith's cross-field kick was taken and finished by Johnstone with Ryan Hall in no man's land.
The opener came after Leeds turned over possession twice in their own half but the Rhinos soon hit their straps in attack and were back level when stand-in full-back Sutcliffe dummied and strolled over for a simple try.
Soft
Both sides were keeping the ball alive in perfect conditions but the next try was another soft one as McGuire picked the ball up from dummy half and danced his way to the line before reaching out to touch down.
The Rhinos made it two tries in as many minutes when Kallum Watkins sliced through the Wildcats defensive line and fed the supporting Burrow for a trademark score.
Wakefield were playing their part in an entertaining contest and they got themselves back in it as the particularly impressive Johnstone outpaced Hall before feeding the onrushing Godinet for a brilliant try in the corner.
But the Wildcats were again made to pay for some soft goal-line defence, Ablett this time the beneficiary after collecting McGuire's pass close to the line.
Leeds took a 24-10 lead into the break and all but wrapped up the two competition points four minutes after the restart when Handley collected McGuire's grubber kick and finished acrobatically in the corner.
The Rhinos were starting to enjoy themselves and made it three tries in eight minutes after Sutcliffe took Ablett's improvised pass to score before Keinhorst kicked through and pounced on a mistake to touch down.
The tries continued to come as Sutcliffe completed his treble after finishing off Burrow's fine break before turning provider with a good pass to put Handley over for his second.
Singleton showed good strength to help himself to a four-minute double but Leeds' purple patch was ended by Kirmond after Godinet had found a hole in the Rhinos' defence.
Godinet repeated the trick to put Scruton over and he played another big part in the final try for Johnstone as Wakefield finished strongly to give their new coach some hope of keeping the Wildcats in Super League.
