Leeds' Liam Sutcliffe loses the ball after a tackle from Warrington's Rhys Evans
Warrington Wolves surprised Leeds Rhinos 12-10 at Headingley in a thrilling opening encounter to Super League 2016.
Chris Sandow and Kevin Penny scored tries on Thursday night as Wolves downed the defending champions in front of their home crowd.
Leeds dominated possession and scored two tries of their own, but were left to rue several opportunities to kick for points which they turned down, as Zak Hardaker took over the kicking duties from the injured Danny McGuire.
Penny's 68th-minute try levelled proceedings before Kurt Gidley slotted the conversion that reduced Rhinos to a shock defeat in round 1 of Super League.
The game started with a small amount of rustiness from both sides but there was plenty of intensity to make up for it. Warrington's defence was solid from the outset, but as the first half wore on the home side looked the more likely to score. Several penalties were conceded by Warrington but handling errors kept the Rhinos scoreless, and in the end it was Warrington who opened proceedings through Sandow in the 35th minute.
Leeds were penalised when Brad Singleton put a high hit on Sandow and Warrington played the ball quickly. Sandow threw a dummy which created a big gap in the Rhinos defence for the Wolves man to dot down near the poles, giving Gidley an easy conversion opportunity.
Gidley sent the conversion between the poles to make it 6-0, which is how it remained up to the break. The Rhinos came out with more purpose in the second half but were forced to play out the game without new captain McGuire as he received attention on his knee.
However Leeds did not appear to be disturbed by the absence of their skipper as they drew level in the 48th minute when Singleton ran onto the ball off a switch from Rob Burrow and crashed over from close range, with Hardaker adding the extras.
Leeds then took the lead for the first time when Warrington failed to end the run of Joel Moon who offloaded to Jordan Lilley in the tackle. Lilley drew the last defender and passed to Ryan Hall who went over in the corner.
The conversion was took much to ask of Hardaker who sent it left from out wide. Warrington continued to give away penalties but the Rhinos kept turning down the two points in search of match-winning tries, but knock-ons and forward passes meant Wolves remained unpunished.
Eventually it was Wolves who struck next and it was the final blow. Sandow put in a deft kick out wide which fell perfectly to Currie who passed to Penny for the score that evened things out. Gidley then sent the conversion over from near the touchline to give Wolves a slender lead.
Hardaker had a chance to snatch a draw when Leeds finally opted to kick for points with the game almost over, but again sent the effort left as Warrington saw out a thrilling away win in their opening game.
