Penny shows value as Leeds miss bus

Rugby League: Warrington 47 Leeds 14

Warrington 47 Leeds 14

Any lingering hope that Leeds could yet challenge for the Stone Centenary Championship hit a roadblock on a night when they were rarely in the right place at the right time, writes Dave Hadfield.

The Leeds bus arrived late, thanks to chaos on the motorway and one of their team, Mike Forshaw, ran the five miles from his stranded car. It was not surprising, then, that they should start the game in disorganised fashion, conceding two tries to Warrington's resurgent full-back Lee Penny, in the first 11 minutes.

Penny has been typical of many of Warrington's promising youngsters in the way his star has risen and fallen in quick succession. In the early stages last night, he once more looked an outstanding talent, first taking a pass from Kelly Shelford to weave through from 50 yards and then capitalising on Chris Rudd's break for his second.

Two Iestyn Harris conversions gave Warrington a comfortable early lead, only slightly eroded by a Paul Cook penalty. Warrington would have been further ahead but for some sterling defence from Francis Cummins.

Seven minutes before half time, Leeds cracked again, opening up in the face of Dave King's charge and his fellow Australian, Greg Mackey, taking his pass to score. Harris added his third goal and created a try for himself with an exemplary piece of quick thinking, kicking through straight from a scrum to follow up and touch down.

Matters worsened still further for Leeds when their substitute, Barrie McDermott, was sent off after only eight minutes on the field for a high tackle on Paul Sculthorpe.

Another glorious try from the inspired Penny completed his hat-trick two minutes into the second half, and a beautiful side-stepping run from Harris brought him his second try and sixth goal, quickly followed by a drop goal from the same productive source. Mike Wainwright raced in from Sculthorpe's pass as the night turned into a rout.

Cummins and Alan Tait went over for late tries for Leeds, but the Warrington substitute, Andy Bennett, snapped up their eighth try, Harris's first miss leaving him with a total of 23 points.

Warrington: Penny; Thompson, Rudd, Davies, Currier; Harris, Ford (Mackey, 7); Jones (Bennett , 67), Hough, Hilton (King, 20), Wainwright, Sculthorpe, Shelford (Thursfield, 50).

Leeds: Cook; Golden, Innes, Iro (Gibbons, h-t), Cummins; Holroyd, Lowes; Harmon, Shaw, Howard (McDermott, 33), Mercer, Mann (Field, 50), Forshaw (Tait, 33).

Referee: D Campbell (Widnes).