Leeds Rhinos 12 Warrington Wolves 14

Despite coming into the game down on troops, Leeds Rhinos showed spirit and fight to battle hard in a 14-12 Betfred Super League semi-final defeat against Warrington Wolves.

After a total of four first-half tries, a controversial Ewan Irwin penalty goal ultimately split the sides by the time the final whistle sounded. To their credit, the Rhinos pushed their opponents all the way, carried by an overturned 40/20 kick and a long-range penalty goal attempt by Jake Connor in the final five minutes.

In the 14 days between the Hull FC defeat and the semi-final, Leeds confirmed that Man of Steel nominee Lachie Miller, captain Ash Handley, centre Jack Bird and winger Maika Sivo were all sidelined with injury. Adding to Miller’s early departure in the final game of the regular season with a hamstring injury, a back injury for Handley and hamstring troubles for Bird had already ruled the pair out before Wednesday’s 21-man squad announcement, but Sivo’s injury came in the lead-up to matchday. Having scored two hat-tricks against Warrington during the regular season, the Fijian was a huge miss on the edge as head coach Brad Arthur was forced to reshuffle.

Fergus McCormack was reintroduced at full back for his fifth senior game of the year, plus Riley Lumb played his first minutes since scoring a hat-trick against York in round 24. McCormack had trained with the team as the intended starting full back during preparations for the game, but the Sivo injury forced Lumb to be a late call-up in the left-wing spot. A bonus saw James McDonnell return as the second rower played his first minutes since a try-scoring appearance away against Wakefield.

Before the game kicked off, Leeds suffered more injury frustrations as Chris Hankinson pulled out during the warm-up and forced Ned McCormack into the centre spot alongside Lumb. The setback added to an inevitably nervous start from both sides, given a place at Old Trafford was on the line. An early kick from the boot of Jake Connor was dealt with well by Warrington full-back Josh Thewlis, only for his risky pass to force Matty Ashton to take evasive action to take the ball out of Harry Newman’s grasp. Leeds had their teething issues too – Croft and Connor both hashing kicks away under pressure from an energetic Wire defensive line – before the home side conceded the game’s first points. The Wolves had worked themselves closer to the line with Liam Byrne before George Williams put a competitive kick up for his edge of Ashton and King. Even with Ryan Hall covering for Leeds, he couldn’t out-jump centre King, who pushed the ball back for Ashton, who in turn found James Bentley to score against his former club.

Despite the slow start, Leeds managed to work themselves into the game despite Warrington’s pressure. Surviving waves of Wolves attacks after Matt Lodge was caught offside and Ryan Hall was penalised for taking out Ashton in the air illegally, the Rhinos got their rewards when a high tackle on Lumb saw Croft punish the away side with a perfect pass over the top of Ashton and King’s head to put Hall over in the corner.

The semi-final was beginning to come alive as chances followed for both sides. After conceding, the Wolves almost found themselves celebrating in the corner. Irwin and Thewlis combined to put Hopoate into space, only for good cover defence from the McCormack’s and Lumb to get across to force the Wire player over the sideline. A poor last tackle kick from Jarrod O’Connor moments later saw the hooker hook the ball out on the full, but the home side weathered another attack as both Arron Lindop and Hopoate missed Williams’ dab kick ahead to let another chance go by.

Still level at 10-all with under 10 minutes to go, Leeds fans were on their feet applauding as a huge Jake Connor try gave the home side their first lead of the night. The reigning Man of Steel – snubbed for the 2026 shortlist – conjured an optimistic chip kick to start the attack, and Ned McCormack was there following up. As the young centre passed inside to the experienced Watkins, the Leeds captain showed great composure to hold the ball up for support, before feeding Connor to fittingly finish the try he started. A  pinpoint sideline conversion took the score to 12-6 with seven minutes to go.

The Wolves rallied and grabbed a soft score in the final stages of the half. Back-to-back defensive sets had Leeds pinned on their own try line, and relentless defence had an impact as George Williams dissected a pass to put Luke Yates through the challenge of Jenkins to touch down.  Irwin’s boot added the extras as the sides went into the break all square.

Coming out for the second half, the Rhinos were the brighter of the two semi-finalists as they looked to set the tempo quickly. Pressure off the back of a Hopoate error didn’t bear fruit as Cameron Smith knocked on to end the attack, before Fergus McCormack slid a grubber kick ahead, only for there to be no chasers in support.

Momentary concern passed over the home crowd when Croft went down the tunnel for a HIA assessment, only for the half back to be cleared to return 15 minutes later. Meanwhile, Warrington had taken a grip of the tie to swing it back in their favour, only to struggle to break the Leeds defensive line from close range. The best chance came off the back of a half break by Ashton that then saw Thewlis switch the play to the opposite side of the field, only for the final pass by the full back to sail over the head of Hopoate.

The game-breaking moment came shortly after. Both sides had turned the game into an enthralling contest as they tried to find the smallest of breakthroughs to get on the scoreboard, but instead the crucial play of the game came down to a moment of ill-discipline. Irwin’s kick on the last tackle was chased down by Williams, who was judged by referee Chris Kendall to have been taken out by James McDonnell, who was also retreating for the ball. Even after further review as the Rhinos challenged the call, video referee Liam Rush confirmed the on-field call and Irwin kicked the subsequent penalty goal.

Now at 14-12, Leeds started to come alive. Croft’s return and the substitutions of Presley Cassell and Matt Lodge – the latter tormented the Wolves all night – gave Arthur’s side a new lease of life as they started to ask questions of their opponent. Lumb was unlucky not to intercept a wayward pass from Irwin that would have seen the winger streak away. After Williams was penalised for taking out Palasia after the prop worked hard to charge down the Wire half back’s dab kick, a frantic play deep in Warrington’s half saw a Cassell offload back for Croft agonisingly come off the fingertips of the half back as he tried to flick it up for Connor.

Time was running out, but the cool persona of Connor almost saw the half back come up with two huge plays inside the last five minutes. With Leeds keeping the ball alive again, Connor’s boot boomed a 40/20 downfield and the noise as it rolled away from Hopoate and Thewlis over the sideline brought AMT Headingley to life. A Wolves captain’s challenge ended the Leeds fans’ hope, as replays showed that Palasia’s elbow had hit the floor before he offloaded back for his teammate.

Nevertheless, the drama continued into the closing moments. A slow set from the Wolves didn’t take all the remaining time off the clock as Leeds were handed a golden final opportunity, stirring thoughts of Saints’ dramatic final score in last year’s eliminator. Connor’s decision to chip a kick over the top drew a penalty from referee Kendall as Fergus McCormack was taken out off the ball, leaving four seconds on the clock for the Leeds scrum half to kick a game-equalising penalty goal from 40 metres out. Stepping up, the kick agonisingly fell short to end the Rhinos’ season and send Warrington to Old Trafford.

Teams

Rhinos

28. Fergus McCormack, 5. Ryan Hall, 24. Ned McCormack, 3. Harry Newman, 22. Riley Lumb, 6. Brodie Croft, 7. Jake Connor (VC), 8. Mikolaj Oledzki, 9. Jarrod O’Connor, 31. Matt Lodge, 11. Kallum Watkins (C), 12. James McDonnell, 13. Keenan Palasia

Subs: 10. Tom Holroyd, 15. Cooper Jenkins, 17. Cameron Smith, 20. Presley Cassell (18th Man – 30. Zak Lloyd)

Tries: Hall (17), Connor (33)

Goals: Connor 2/2

Penalty Goals: Connor 0/1

Wolves

2. Josh Thewlis, 4. Albert Hopoate, 23. Arron Lindop, 3. Toby King, 5. Matty Ashton, 6. George Williams (C), 18. Ewan Irwin, 10. James Harrison, 9. Danny Walker, 16. Liam Byrne, 20. James Bentley, 12. Sam Stone, 13. Ben Currie

Subs: 8. Luke Yates, 14. Sam Powell, 22. Joe Philbin, 34. Kelepi Tanginoa (18^th Man –  19. Leon Hayes)

Tries: Bentley (6), Yates (37)

Goals: Irwin 2/2

Penalty Goals: Irwin 1/1