Brian McDermott was looking for a seventh consecutive win for the first time in his coaching career, and Jimmy Keinhorst, was hopeful of a winning debut for the Rhinos as he stepped into the seventeen for the first time.

What could possibly go wrong?

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With Delaney not risked, Bailey injured, and Clarkson overlooked it was a Rhinos with several changes that took to the field at a busy Belle Vue. Brent Webb was down at scrum-half, but started at full-back, Ward was in the centres but started at stand-off, Kirke at loose forward and German international Jimmy Keinhorst on the bench. Danny McGuire was watching from the stands as he sat out his one match suspension, by the final hooter he may have been glad that he bore no responsibility for the outcome.

Although Leeds stared brightly they were soon under intense pressure from a Wildcats side who were out to show that they meant business. Orchestrated by Cockayne, Sykes and Tim Smith the home side soon took the attack to the Leeds defence.

On seven minutes a couple of stupid Leeds penalties allowed the Wildcats to register the first score when Andy Raleigh stretched over to score when the Leeds defence should really have done better. Sykes goaled for 0-6.

On twelve it looked like Leeds had levelled the scored when Hall juggled before passing to Webb to score. The video referee was consulted and harshly ruled that Stevie Ward had taken out a defender. A minute later and we were over thanks to a superb Ward intercept and sixty-metre break before finding Watkins to go down the right wing and score in the corner. Sinfield failed with the goal but we were in the game at 4-6, but the rest of the half would be dominated by Wakefield.

Steady

On twenty-three a mistake by Silverwood (failing to spot a Wakefield knock-on, which a voice in his ear eventually pointed out) blew up when a Burrow long pass found support unopposed. Leeds couldn't make the scrum count. On twenty-eight a moment of Webb stupidity, with ball in hand, cost a penalty on the Leeds ten and after using that set to force a drop-out, poor Leeds defence allowed Sykes to cross from ten metres. He converted his own for 4-10. When Sinfield put the kick-off out on the full, Wakefield used the ball well and Kirmond went over. Sykes again added the extras and the home side took a 4-18 lead into half time.

On the balance of play the Wildcats fully deserved their lead, but the game wasn't beyond the Rhinos and there was still plenty of confidence around that we could come back and take the points in the second half.

And the Rhinos started the second half brilliantly.

On forty-five a Sinfield cross-field kick found Hall who took the ball without any defensive pressure and scored in the corner. Sinfield missed the kick.

A minute later and Sinfield was again the provider, this time with a high bomb, which Mathers failed to take allowing Hall to collect and walk over the line to score. Sinny kicked this one and we were within four at 14-18. It looked like there was only one way that the game could go as the Rhinos began to dominate.

But no-one told the Wildcats.

On fifty-seven a good Wildcats break saw Washbrook over in the corner, re-establishing the ten point margin thanks to a Sykes conversion. On sixty, with Leuluai punished for catching a ricochet ball in an offside position, Wakefield passed the ball well with Raleigh feeding Wood for the score. Sykes missed the extras for 14-28. A small glimmer of hope on seventy when Hall scored his hat-trick off another cheeky little Sinfield grubber, but the skipper missed the extras and the margin was still ten points at 18-28.

Good and Bad

But any hope of a victory was snuffed out by two late Wakefield tries.

On seventy-five Collis touched down a Sykes kick which eluded the Leeds defence and on seventy-nine Fox scored against his former employers after going over the top of a Hall attempted tackle. Sykes converted the former, but not the latter, and gave us a final scoreline of 18-38.

There is no doubt that we were well beaten, and second best on the night by quite some distance. We looked lightweight in the pack and lacklustre in defence allowing repeated breaks of our line. Webb had a nightmare on his return, and his chances of much more game time before the end of the season are slimming. On the plus side; Ward looked as good in the centres as he has in the pack, Hardaker continues to shine at full-back, and Keinhorst had a great debut and didn't put a foot wrong.

It was a bad day at the office, and effectively ends any hope that we'd had of a top four finish. Now we need to make sure that we can hold on to fifth, and do it the same way that we did last season. The hard way.

A win over Hull KR at the weekend is the new priority, and the start of a new winning run.

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