Leeds 40-0 Warrington: Report and reaction as Matt Parcell's hat-trick tames Wolves

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Match stats: Leeds 40-0 Warrington

Leeds tries: Parcell (14, 44, 70), Sutcliffe (30), Jones-Buchanan (49), Moon (62), Burrow (78)
Goals: Sutcliffe (15, 38, 45, 63, 68, 71) 

Match report

Matt Parcell scored a hat-trick to continue his stunning start to life at Headingley as Leeds moved up to third in Super League with a 40-0 rout of Warrington.

The Australian hooker joined the Rhinos from NRL club Manly in the off-season and has been the driving force behind Leeds' much-improved campaign.

Parcell's 14th-minute opener and Liam Sutcliffe's try and two goals put Leeds in charge against the Wolves at the end of a scrappy first half that belied the ideal playing conditions.

The number nine added his second try just after the restart and then completed his hat-trick after Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Joel Moon had crossed to heap further misery on out-of-sorts Warrington.

Rob Burrow went over for a deserved try in the final few minutes as Leeds moved eight points clear of one of their traditional rivals for the Super League crown in style.

The Rhinos had to survive a fast start by Warrington as Ashton Golding spilled a towering kick from Kurt Gidley, who then earned his side another repeat set with a dab into the in-goal area.

The home side repelled those early Warrington raids but the Wolves came again and could count themselves unfortunate there was not a camera angle available to conclusively prove Matty Russell had touched down a loose ball.

Leeds had offered little in attack until Tom Briscoe found a gap in the Warrington defence close to halfway and with options left and right he gave Parcell a simple finish for his 11th try of the year.

The hosts were forced into a reshuffle when Golding limped off and it was his replacement at full-back who extended Leeds' lead on 29 minutes.

The Rhinos twice turned down the chance of two points from penalties and they were rewarded for their adventure when Sutcliffe took Danny McGuire's pass to ghost over out wide for his fourth try in as many games.

Sutcliffe failed to add the extras to his own try from the touchline but Leeds were in control at 10-0 with half-time approaching.

The Rhinos sought a killer third try in the final few minutes of the half but were content to settle for two points from the boot of Sutcliffe after Tom Lineham was penalised in possession.

The next score was crucial and it went to Leeds as acting-half Parcell dummied his way under the posts from close range.

Sutcliffe added a simple conversion to put Leeds 18-0 up and effectively out of sight against a Warrington side well below their best in attack.

It was a case of damage limitation for the Wolves after Jones-Buchanan took Burrow's no-look pass to round Stefan Ratchford and score his first try of the season.

Warrington's night got worse when Gidley hobbled off and their frustrations boiled over as Daryl Clark traded punches with Stevie Ward in an altercation that saw both players sin-binned.

Moon picked the ball up from dummy-half and took advantage of more soft defence to extend Leeds' lead before Sutcliffe added the conversion and a penalty to make it 30-0.

Burrow had given the Warrington defence a torrid time after replacing Golding and it was his break that allowed Parcell to complete his treble.

The diminutive half-back had the last word as he raced clear to put the seal on Leeds' first win over Wire in four attempts.

Match Reaction

Warrington coach Tony Smith: "It was not good enough. If you play poor it's not a great place to come to, and we were poor with the ball today.

"Some of the errors we made were just not good enough. It's a dangerous place to come to and make errors. They've got some dangerous players who can capitalise on them.

"I didn't see that coming. We built up well this week but some of those performances just come out of the blue.

"We were hoping to build on last week (the Magic Weekend draw with Wigan) and that commitment but these guys have had a couple of substantial defeats this season and once Leeds got on a roll it was hard to stop.

"In some ways it's a good thing for us that we play on Monday. It's horrible when you've got a long turnaround after playing poorly. You can dwell on it and that can eat you up.

"We've only got a few days to dust ourselves off and we can make amends."

Leeds head coach Brian McDermott: "It was clinical and the further the game went the better we got.

"But I'm just mindful we're playing a team who aren't where we know they can be. We went through that last year.

"We'll judge it accordingly. I'm really pleased not to have a try scored against us but at the same time we beat a team that is lacking confidence and not as good as they can be.

"He's (Parcell) been good for us since he came here despite not having a pre-season with us.

"There's still some improvement in him. I thought Rob Burrow when he went on was very influential as well. He posed a massive threat for us."