Star man gets 9/10 in Peter Smith's Leeds Rhinos player ratings from 40-22 win v Wakefield Trinity

The winning margin didn’t reflect the contest, which was in the balance deep in the final quarter. It was a remarkably resilient performance by Trinity, who were without several first-choice players and lost another in the opening moments.

They just wouldn’t go away, but Rhinos - fielding the same 17 for a fifth successive game, all of them won - managed to respond whenever Wakefield got themselves back in it and their extra class proved decisive. Betfred Super League’s top two try scorers, Maika Sivo and Brodie Croft, bagged five touchdowns between them, but Rhinos’ star turn was provided by Jake Connor. He was superb for the table-toppers, involved in all their best moments and landing eight goals from nine attempts, several from wide out.

There was a worrying incident after just five minutes, following Connor’s penalty kick which opened the scoring. Returning the restart, Keenan Palasia crashed into defender Cameron Scott who appeared to be out cold before he hit the deck. Players nearby immediately called for assistance and the Trinity centre was taken off on a stretcher following 11 minutes of treatment from both medical teams.

Danny Levi was held up over the whitewash before the penalty goal and Chris Hankinson lost the ball going for the line, when he should have passed to Sivo. The winger’s 15th try of the Super League season wasn’t far away though. On 15 minutes Connor picked out Ash Handley with an excellent pass and the centre flicked the ball on to send his winger over for a touchdown which Connor improved from the touchline.

Cameron Smith replaced Brodie Croft when the stand-off left the field for a head injury assessment on 19 minutes. He made an immediate impact with a strong run which set up the hosts’ second converted try, Kallum Watkins slicing through from Connor’s pass.

After 27 minutes the visitors received a penalty for a ball steal and Rhinos’ captain’s challenge was inconclusive. In the resulting set, Jake Trueman’s pass found Will Tate and he turned the ball inside for Oli Pratt to score. Mason Lino converted from the touchline.

A penalty and set-restart got Rhinos back on the front foot and Sivo crashed straight over the top of Pratt and Tate. Connor tagged on the two from the touchline, but - as in the Cup tie two months ago - Trinity scored on the final play of the half, following successive penalties. The second was for a high shot by Sivo on Josh Rourke which led to the Leeds winger being sin-binned. Tray Lolesio forced his way over in the next set and Lino’s kick made it an eight-point ball game.

Connor booted his second penalty straight after the interval, which was a sensible option, running down the clock on Sivo’s sin-bin. However, 12 men became 11 - briefly - on 48 minutes when Handley was yellow-carded, on video referee Tom Grant’s say so, for shoving Rourke off the ball in goal as the Trinity man chased a kick from Tate. It was the correct call and Trinity took advantage of the extra men when Jayden Myers crossed in the next set and Lino added a touchline goal.

Moments later, though, Trueman’s high kick just inside Trinity’s half was dropped by Rourke. It bounced nicely for Connor who raced into open space and turned the ball to Croft who – having passed his hia – went over for his 12th try of the campaign. Connor added the two, but yet again, Trinity came back, Myers touching down from Rourke’s kick. That was unconverted, but Leeds were only six ahead with 17 left.

It was anyone’s game at that stage, but then up stepped Sivo to complete his hat-trick after Connor, Hankinson and Handley had handled. Wakefield were penalised for offside from the restart, then pinged again and Connor took the two open a two-score gap. Leeds were a man down again with five minutes left when Jack Bird chucked the ball over the in-goal hoarding to delay a tap-restart. This time Trinity couldn’t make it pay and Leeds sealed a precious win when Jarrod O’Coonor put a really smart kick behind the defence and Croft ran through to score his second.

In front of a 15,135 crowd, the penalties finished seven-six in Leeds’ favour and they had four set-restarts to Wakefield’s one.

Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Hall, Bird, Sivo, Handley, Bird, Hall, Croft, Connor, Oledzki, Levi, Palasia, Hankinson, McDonnell, Watkins. Subs C Smith, O’Connor, Jenkins, Holroyd.

Wakefield Trinity: Rourke, Myers, C Hall, Scott, Pratt, Trueman, Lino, McMeeken, Smoothy, Hamlin-Uele, Storton, Pitts, Rodwell. Subs Faatiliu, H Smith, Lolesio, Tate.

Referee: Chris Kendall (Huddersfield). Attendance: 15,135.