Star man gets rare 10/10 in Peter Smith's Leeds Rhinos player ratings from 48-30 win v Leigh Leopards

The 34-year-old has been an inspired mid-season signing. He played the full game in the pack and scored two brilliant touchdowns. It’ll be a surprise if the second of them isn’t Rhinos’ try of the season. He was superbly supported by both halves, Brodie Croft and Jake Connor – who set up three tries and converted all Leeds’ eight – and centre Harry Newman, another one to bag a brace in his best performance of the season.

Both teams attacked with flair. Defences weren’t exactly on top, especially in the final half an hour, but it was great entertainment, played in a terrific atmosphere. It was the most points Rhinos have both scored and conceded in a game this season and lifted them above Leigh into third place on the Betfred Super League table.

There wasn’t a dull moment in an end-to-end thriller played in front of a crowd of 14,338. After five minutes Leigh’s Keenan Brand dropped the ball 20 out and in the set from the scrum Connor dabbed a lovely kick behind the line and Watkins made a diving touchdown before the ball ran dead. The lead lasted five minutes until James McDonnell found himself in possession on the last inside Leeds’ half, his pass was intercepted and in the subsequent attack Isaac Liu shrugged off McDonnell to power over.

Five minutes after that, Lachlan Lam knocked-on, Newman picked up, slipped a terrific pass out of the tackle to Lachie Miller and he scorched 70 metres for a try out of the blue and against the run of play. Soon afterwards, Alfie Edgell looked to have put the ball down one-handed at the corner, but referee Liam Moore said no and Chris Kendall on video duty agreed. That was a debatable decision and at the end of the next set Miller dropped a kick which led to Brand going over for a try at the corner, so what could have been 18-6 was instead 12-10.

Briefly. After 32 minutes, following the game’s first penalty, Rhinos scored their third try, Cameron Smith taking a pass from acting-half above his head, somehow holding on and then using his footwork to step over the line. Leeds would have been pretty happy with an eight-point lead at the break, but a moment of magic from Croft meant it was better than that. His footwork opened up the defence with 24 seconds left in the half and a long pass was finished at the corner by Newman.

At 24-10 it was Rhinos’ to lose. Two minutes after the interval, Miller split the defence and it took a terrific tackle by Darnell McIntosh to keep Smith out. McDonnell spilled the ball on the next play and at the end of the resulting set, Ben McNamara’s kick was taken by Umyla Hanley and his offload put O’Brien in.

Rhinos shrugged off that setback when Miller’s kick was batted back in field by Ryan Hall and Newman collected for his second touchdown. In the next set Leeds scored a try for the ages. Connor’s short pass sent Watkins galloping into space and he wrong-footed full-back O’Brien with a classic dummy to score himself and bring the house down.

That effectively made the game safe and it was ‘you score, we score’ after that as both sides decided to conserve energy by stopping defending. Brand completed an excellent hat-trick either side of a powerful finish by Rhinos’ Tom Holroyd; another prop, Mikolaj Oledzki, crashed over after Miller’s clever kick was handed on by Connor and Umyla Hanley’s try – plus O’Brien’s third conversion – completed the scoring.

The penalty count was three-two in Leigh’s favour. Rhinos’ second came when the visitors managed to kick a restart backwards into their own half. Credit to referee Liam Moore for taking a back seat and letting both teams get on with it.

Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Hall, Newman, Handley, Edgell, Croft, Connor, Oledzki, O’Connor, Jenkins, Watkins, McDonnell, Palasia. Subs Holroyd, Lisone, Sinfield, Smith.

Leigh Leopards: Armstrong, McIntosh, Niu, Hanley, Brand, O’Brien, Lam, Ofahengaue, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Trout, Liu. Subs Davis, McNamara, Hughes, O’Neill. Referee: Liam Moore (Wigan). Attendance: 14,338.