Rhinos clinch top spot
Leeds Rhinos held off a late Salford fightback to secure a 30-24 victory at The Willows and the League Leader's Shield in the process.
Last Updated: 11/09/09 10:43pm
Super League champions Leeds Rhinos held off a late Salford fightback to secure a 30-24 victory at The Willows and the League Leader's Shield in the process.
Luke Adamson and John Wilshere both crossed to give the hosts a shock 12-0 lead in the first-half, but the Rhinos came roaring back and Kallum Watkins, Jay Pitts, Luke Burgess, Brent Webb and Carl Ablett all touched down with Lee Smith kicking five conversions to ease them into a 30-12 advantage.
But Salford were not done and Stuart Littler and Stefan Ratchford crossed in a rousing finale as Leeds were made to fight to the last to claim victory.
It was the visitors who looked to have opened the scoring early on only for Scott Donald to see his score chalked off for a forwards pass.
Salford took full advantage of their let-off to move ahead on the quarter-hour mark as Adamson did well to finish a well-crafted score after Salford cleverly drew defenders into the middle of the pitch before working the ball wide.
They the doubled the lead as Wilshere finished well in the left corner and, as he had done for the first try, converted well.
Rocked on their heels, Leeds got their act together ten minutes before the interval as a brilliant break from Ryan Hall ended with Watkins racing between the posts from halfway.
Smith left the scores 12-6 in Salford's favour with the conversion and, after Wilshere sent a penalty wide for the hosts, Pitts crossed the whitewash for a debut try following a good spell of possession on the stroke of half-time to allow Smith to draw the scores level.
Leeds picked up where they left off after the break and Salford were forced to defend stoutly to keep them at bay.
But their pressure told in the 49th minute as replacement Luke Burgess dropped over the line to the right of the posts after yet another lengthy spell with the ball in hand.
The fourth Rhinos score duly arrived in the 56th minute as Webb found himself in acres of space to pull in a Rob Burrow kick and charge over unopposed.
The one-way traffic then continued as Ablett managed to add a fifth try in front of the huge contingent of Leeds fans to put his side in complete control.
But Reds centre Littler scored a great opportunist effort in the 73rd minute as he exploited a gaping hole in the Leeds defence to reduce the arrears.
Two minutes later Robbie Paul sent Ratchford through and he made it a six-point game with a brilliant solo effort, but Leeds stood firm to make sure they headed to the play-offs with victory.
