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Wakefield 38-6 Leeds: Six-try Trinity crush Rhinos in Super 8s
Wakefield ran in six tries as they beat Leeds 38-6 in Thursday's Super 8s clash. Here's the full report and reaction.
Match stats: Wakefield 38-6 Leeds
Wakefield tries: Arundel (4), Jones-Bishop (26), Wood (28), Miller (39), Ashurst (51), Tupou (76)
Goals: Finn (4,26,28,36,39,51,76)
Leeds tries: Cuthbertson (10)
Goals: Watkins (10)
Match report
Jacob Miller enjoyed a dream comeback as Wakefield boosted their fading play-off hopes with a 38-6 rout of West Yorkshire rivals Leeds at Belle Vue.
Trinity, one of the season's surprise packages, had fallen away in recent weeks but they returned to form in style against an out-of-sorts Rhinos.
Miller had been a big miss for Wakefield during their poor run but his return from a broken leg was key to Chris Chester's side climbing back into the top four.
Joe Arundel's early effort set the tone for a dominant first-half performance by Wakefield as further tries from Ben Jones-Bishop, Scott Grix and Miller gave them a 26-6 lead at the break.
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Adam Cuthbertson's 10th-minute leveller was all Leeds had to show from a nightmare opening 40 minutes and it got little better for the Rhinos after the break, with Matty Ashurst and Bill Tupou completing Wakefield's biggest Super League win over their neighbours.
Chester demanded a positive reaction from Wakefield after last week's heavy defeat at Huddersfield - their fifth loss in seven games - and they looked determined to prove they were still top-four contenders in the opening minutes.
It was two fresh players who gave Trinity the perfect start, fit-again stand-off Miller making a jinking break before recalled centre Arundel used quick footwork to touch down out wide.
Liam Finn nailed his touchline conversion but indiscipline gave Leeds the field position to strike back quickly through Cuthbertson from Danny McGuire's well-weighted kick.
Reece Lyne's determined run sparked the game into life after a lull, only for another handling error to let the Rhinos off the hook.
Leeds, in second place heading into the weekend, were struggling to get out of their own half and Wakefield finally turned territory into points when Jones-Bishop finished Grix's dab in behind.
Trinity were full value for their 12-6 lead and it got even better for the hosts as Grix raced clear after Kyle Wood took advantage of tired defence by Jamie Jones-Buchanan in the set from the restart.
The Rhinos were on the rack and would perhaps have been grateful for Wakefield's decision to take the two when they were caught offside on their own line.
But Trinity were immediately on the attack again and they put themselves out of sight just before the hooter as Miller touched down after Leeds made a mess of Finn's kick.
The visitors predictably came out firing at the start of the second half but Wakefield weathered the storm and piled more misery on Leeds.
Full-back Ashton Golding lost the ball in collision coming away from his own line and Ashurst pounced on it to mark his 200th career appearance with a try.
The impressive Wood had a try ruled out for a double movement and there was a blow for Wakefield when Arundel went off with an arm injury.
But Trinity ended a memorable night on a high as Tupou touched down Grix's kick on a free play.
Match reaction
Chris Chester on Wakefield's play-off chances: "We've copped some criticism over the last seven days and rightly so because the performance last week wasn't to the standards we've set ourselves. But we answered a few questions tonight. We scored some nice, fancy tries but the defence was the best I've seen it in a long time.
"We copped a bit but we're now in that top four. Who'd have said that at the start of the year? We've shown with this performance tonight we're not here to make the numbers up.
"We've got as good a chance as anybody competing for the top four. We need to take a lot of confidence from that result. It's play-off football and there's a lot of good teams in and around us that are playing some good footy as well. We'll see over the next few weeks but we fancy our chances against anybody."
Leeds head coach Brian McDermott on his side's heavy defeat: "Wakefield were really good. They were up for the fight and doing the tough stuff.
"We started off okay but we started to look for answers with too many passes and offloads, although that's not why we lost. It's been a while since we've been beaten significantly like that.
"I know the Challenge Cup was a disappointing loss but it's been a while since we've had that many points put on us and been that off with our preferred starting 13. We'll have to have a reaction next week because St Helens are in form."