Leeds 34-10 Wigan

Leeds Rhinos extended their winning their start to the season on Friday night, claiming a comfortable 34-10 win over Wigan at the Headingley Carnegie Stadium.nnFull-back Brent Webb made his return from injury, coming off the bench after six months out.nnLeeds made the best possible start and were 6-0 up within four minutes. A superb 40-20 from man-of-the-match Rob Burrow took the reigning champions straight up towards the Wigan line, before quick passing and offloading sent Kylie Leuluai crashing over in the corner. Kevin Sinfield‘s conversion put the hosts 6-0 up.nnWingman Scott Donald put his side further ahead just after ten minutes, capitalising on a Shaun Ainscough error to latch onto a clever Danny McGuire kick. The young winger let the ball bounce into the in-goal area, allowing Donald to pounce just before the ball hit touch. Sinfield added the extras from the corner to open up a 12-0 lead.nnHalf-back Rob Burrow controversially stretched the lead on 17 minutes, after Wigan’s defence was once again all over the place after a Leeds break. The ball came loose and picked up(with a hint of a knock-on) by Donald, who fed the ball to McGuire and on to Burrow who dived over under the sticks. Sinfield added a simple conversion to make it 18-0.nnBrian McLennan’s side showed no relent and Ryan Hall grabbed the fourth try of the match on 30 minutes. Full-back Lee Smith brilliantly added the second 40-20 of the match, on the end of which Hall finished off slick passing. Sinfield proved he was human by narrowly missing the kick, leaving the score at 22-0.nnThe visitors, who had been near silent for the entirety of the half, finally got on the scoreboard on 38 minutes after Ainscough finished off a tidy move on the right. Pat Richards coverted to give his side slight hope with a 22-6 half-time deficit.nnThe visitors were denied a quick route back into the game within a minute of the restart, after the video referee showed Thomas Leuluai to be offside from a long Richards punt upfield. The ball bounced outrageously in Wigan’s favour, giving Ainscough the chance to release Leuluai on the left wing before it was chalked off.nnWigan then had their second try in eight minutes ruled out for an obstruction in the build-up, with forward Gareth Hock this time refused the four-pointer.nnLeeds were showing their first signs of weakness with a couple of rare knock-ons, but soon killed the game off on 51 minutes. A pinpoint Burrow bomb was marvellously plucked out of the air and touched down by Hall, before Sinfield’s fourth conversion from five made it 28-6.nnAfter a quiet ten-minute spell, Peacock bowled through four tacklers to just get the ball down on the line. Sinfield duly added two points to put Leeds 34-6 ahead.nnHock grabbed a late consolation try for Wigan in the 77th minte, cutting through a gap in the Leeds defence to dive over in the corner. Richards’ conversion dragged just the wrong side of the post to leave the full-time score at 34-10.nnWith two wins from six, Wigan’s troubled start to the season continues, while Leeds maintain their place at the table summit and hold on to their 100% record with a fifth win in five.nnLeeds – 34nnT: Leuluai (3); Donald (11); Burrow (17); Hall (30, 51); Peacock (66)nG: Sinfield (4, 12, 18, 51, 67)nnWigan– 6nnT: Ainscough (37); Hock (77)nG: Richards (38)nnHT: 22-4nnRef: I SmithnnAtt: 17,677