A slow start and too many errors cost Warrington as they went down 28-22 at Leeds Rhinos in a repeat of last year’s Grand Final.
A last gasp try from Ryan Atkins as the hooter sounded made the scoreline look more respectable as the Wolves were out played for long periods.
Warrington were outplayed for long periods at Headingley but still had hope when Joel Monaghan’s second try reduced their deficit to 26-18 going into the final quarter.
But the Rhinos stood firm and Kevin Sinfield extended the lead to 10 points with a penalty after yet another Warrington error.
The result moved Leeds up to fifth in the table, level on points with two games in hand on fourth-placed Warrington and four points behind leaders Wigan.
Danny McGuire twisted out of Brett Hodgson’s tackle to open the scoring with his 225th try for Leeds after just three minutes.
Kevin Sinfield kicked the conversion and added a penalty five minutes later to put the champions into an 8-0 lead.
Warrington hit back as Joel Monaghan (pictured right) pounced on a wayward pass from Sinfield and sprinted 80 metres for an opportunist try.
The Wolves were error-prone with handling errors by Atkins and Hodgson as leeds opened up a 16-6 lead. Hall came up with a trademark try, touching down one-handed while in mid-air, while the equally athletic Kallum Watkins fended off the attempted tackle of Chris Riley to touch down at the other corner.
Warrington managed to hit back when scrum-half Richie Myler spotted a gap in the home defence to pull a try back on 32 minutes.
Hodgson’s second goal made it 16-12 but Hardaker marked his return from a dislocated thumb with a 60-metre break out of defence to set up a fourth try three minutes before the break. He beat three men and, although Stefan Ratchford got
back to make a trysaving tackle, it only delayed the inevitable, with hooker McShane forcing his way over from the next play-the-ball.
A 20-12 half time lead should have been more with Sinfield unusually missing three of his five kicks at goal.
From the re-start Sinfield combined with Rob Burrow and McGuire to create space for Joel Moon to get Hall over at the corner for his second try.
The Wolves hit back again as Ratchford regathered his initial kick that bounced back off Burrow before kicking again for Monaghan, who touched down for his second try after juggling with the ball.
Hodgson’s third goal made it 26-18 and spurred Warrington to produce their best rugby of the match but Sinfield kicked a penalty to give his side more breathing space and Leeds closed out the win as Atkins (pictured left) final effort proved too little too late.
Leeds Rhinos
1. Zak Hardaker 3. Kallum Watkins 12. Carl Ablett 4. Joel Moon 5. Ryan Hall 13. Kevin Sinfield 6. Danny McGuire 8. Kylie Leuluai 7. Rob Burrow 10. Jamie Peacock 14. Stevie Ward 19. Mitch Achurch 11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan
Substitutes
18. Chris Clarkson 23. Brad Singleton 9. Paul Mcshane 21. Richard Moore
Warrington Wolves
1. Brett Hodgson 2. Chris Riley 4. Ryan Atkins 15. Simon Grix 5. Joel Monaghan 19. Stefan Ratchford 7. Richie Myler 18. Chris Hill 9. Michael Monaghan 17. Michael Cooper 11. Trent Waterhouse 12. Ben Westwood 13. Ben Harrison Substitutes
10. Garreth Carvell 14. Mick Higham 16. Paul Wood 24. Ben Currie
