SUPER 8S PREVIEW: Leeds v Warrington
Leeds head into this game in imperious form, having been impressive in their Challenge Cup semi-final win over St Helens last week.
Coach Brian McDermott has named 18 of the 19-man squad who were selected for the semi-final, with Josh Walters replacing the injured Jamie Jones-Buchanan.
All eyes will be on Chris Sandow, who is expected to make his debut for Wire at Headingley. After his confident remarks this week, it will be interesting to see how he goes against a well-motivated Leeds defence.
Ryan Atkins and Ben Harrison are absent from the Wolves squad with injury, as is Gene Ormsby.
The Wolves were beaten by Hull KR last week at Headingley in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, and will want to begin their Super 8s campaign strongly.
Leeds Rhinos (19-man squad): Hardaker, Briscoe, Watkins, Moon, Hall, Sinfield, McGuire, Leuluai, Aiton, Peacock, Ablett, Delaney, Cuthbertson, Burrow, Walters, Singleton, Keinhorst, Handley, Garbutt.
Warrington (19-man squad): Asotasi, Clark, Currie, Dwyer, England, Evans, Hill, G King, T King, Monaghan, Myler, O’Brien, Penny, Philbin, Ratchford, Sandow, Sims, Wheeler, Wilde.
Stats:
Carl Ablett needs one appearance to reach 250 for Leeds. Ablett made his Rhinos debut as a substitute in a 36-36 draw with London Broncos at Griffin Park, Brentford, on 18 July, 2004.
Rob Burrow needs three tries to reach 200 for his career. Burrow has scored 177 tries for Leeds since 2001, to go with representative touchdowns for Great Britain (4, 2005 & 2007), England (9, 2004, 2008 & 2012-2013), England ‘A’ (5, 2002-2003) and England under-21s (2, 2001). He also made two non-tryscoring appearances for Yorkshire (2002-2003).
Kallum Watkins needs three tries to reach a career century of touchdowns. Watkins has scored 89 tries for Leeds since 2008, to go with 8 scores for England since 2012.
Super League Summary:
Leeds won 30 (includes win in 2012 Grand Final & 2011 play-offs)
Warrington won 17 (includes wins in 2006 and 2013 play-offs)
One draw
Leeds highest score: 54-16 (H, 2006) (Widest margin: 52-10, A, 2007)
Warrington highest score: 44-10 (H, 2000); 44-16 (H, 2006) (Widest margin: 42-6, A, 2011)
Last 10 Meetings:
Leeds 10, Warrington 29 (SLR12, 24/4/15)
Warrington 18, Leeds 6 (SLR5, 13/3/15)
Leeds 24, Warrington 16 (CCSF, 9/8/14) (at Langtree Park, St Helens)
Warrington 24, Leeds 6 (SLR15, 30/5/14)
Leeds 18, Warrington 12 (SLR2, 21/2/14)
Warrington 40, Leeds 20 (SLQPO, 14/9/13)
Warrington 19, Leeds 18 (SLR21, 5/7/13)
Leeds 28, Warrington 22 (SLR11, 7/4/13)
Leeds 26, Warrington 18 (Super League Grand Final, 6/10/12) (at Old Trafford, Manchester)
Leeds 18, Warrington 35 (Challenge Cup Final, 25/8/12) (at Wembley Stadium)