Leeds Rhinos 42-12 Wigan Warriors: Player ratings and three major talking points

Where did that come from?

What a performance from Leeds as they fully underline their play-off hopes with a huge win over the Wigan Warriors doing to them what we’ve seen Wigan do to so many teams this year.

If I’d have told you this game would end 42-12 you wouldn’t have been surprised but the surprise of Leeds racking up the points at Wigan’s expense must have caught everyone off guard.

Is this a landmark day in the Rohan revolution?

Major Talking Points:

Rohan Smith’s Barmy Army
I said to a good friend earlier today that the more I see of Rohan Smith and his team the more confident I am that he is the man to take Leeds forward and this was the biggest indicator yet. I feel like that was the definitive Rohan Smith Leeds Rhinos performance: full of enterprise, creativity, energy and speed. It was everything you want from a modern rugby league team. There was passion and commitment in the side too indicating the new culture he has begun building at Headingley. There’s still a long way to go but one day we may look back on this as the night which showed where things could go under Rohan Smith.

No Leeming, no problem
Today we were greeted by the gutting news that skipper Kruise Leeming could miss the rest of the season, but Jarrod O’Connor proved that he may not be as keenly missed as some fans feared. The 13 looked like a natural nine bursting out of nine and wrestling his way out of tackles. Leeming’s other replacement in terms of the captaincy again led by example with Ash Handley leading the way in every department. Shout out to Brad Dwyer who was also lively out of attacking half as always filling that Leeming hole again. It was confirmed he would be leaving this week and the reception he received was lovely especially as he scored a deserved try.

Unconventional halves payoff
There was no doubt a lot of surprise when Cameron Smith and Richie Myler were named in the halves but both were outstanding. Smith took his try really well, was a constant running threat and didn’t miss a beat but Richie Myler was the man of the hour. He made it easy for Smith bossing things for Leeds kicking masterfully and sapping the danger from Jai Field and Bevan French.

Player Ratings:

33 Zak Hardaker – 8

2 David Fusitu’a – 8

3 Harry Newman – 9

4 Liam Sutcliffe – 8

5 Ash Handley – 8

17 Cameron Smith – 8

16 Richie Myler – 9

8 Mikolaj Oledzki – 9

24 Jarrod O’Connor – 9

19 Bodene Thompson – 9

11 James Bentley – 9