Leeds Rhinos 28 Wakefield Trinity 22: Morrison lands Wakefield in trouble as Rhinos win
The scores were tied at 18-18 with eight minutes remaining when former Bradford star Morrison caught Lee Smith late and Kevin Sinfield's penalty edged the Rhinos ahead.
Their victory was sealed moments later when Danny Buderus ran in his side's fourth try to leave Wakefield, who struck late on through captain Jason Demetriou, utterly deflated after they had contributed to a thrilling encounter.
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Hide AdWhen the Wildcats led 12-0 after just nine minutes with tries from Morrison and Sam Obst, it was no more than they deserved.
Inside the second minute, some neat handling from a play-the-ball saw Paul King find Paul Cooke and his fine offload sent Morrison heading towards the line at pace.
Morrison shrugged off the attention of Danny McGuire to crash over just wide of the right-hand post and Cooke added the extras with ease.
The score poured confidence into John Kear's men and in the ninth minute they doubled their lead when Obst's grubber kick was not dealt with by the Rhinos defence and the Australian scrum-half regathered the loose ball and scampered over from 12 metres.
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Hide AdCooke added the extra two points, but the indignity of falling 12-0 behind served to jolt Leeds into life.
They suddenly moved through the gears in devastating fashion and were back in the game in the 12th minute when Sinfield's delightful handling gave McGuire the opportunity to weave his way through from close range.
Carl Ablett's influence grew as the half wore on and his delightful offload ushered replacement Jamie Jones-Buchanan over from close range in the 26th minute and Sinfield's goal drew Leeds level.
A penalty from Cooke restored Wakefield's lead but Australian wing Scott Donald dived over in the right corner on the stroke of half-time after fine handling from Smith, Sinfield, McGuire and Brent Webb, while Sinfield again proved accurate with the boot.
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Hide AdWakefield survived a few scares early in the second half before hitting Leeds with a vicious sucker-punch in the 50th minute when Aaron Murphy squeezed over from close range in the left corner.
Cooke missed his first kick of the match to prevent the Wildcats forging back in front and leave the scores finely poised at 18-18.
Both sides pushed for a winning score but Wakefield fell behind when Morrison felled Smith and Sinfield kicked the resultant penalty to give Leeds the advantage.
Buderus then took advantage of the visitors' numerical disadvantage to saunter clear and, although Demetriou went over for Wakefield, Leeds had the final say when Sinfield kicked his sixth goal to cap another fine performance.
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Hide AdLeeds Rhinos: Webb, Donald, Delaney, Smith, Hall, Sinfield, McGuire, Leuluai, Buderus, Kirke, Ablett, Pitts, Jones-Buchanan. Substitutes: Diskin, Senior, Eastwood, Peacock.
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: Murphy, Blanch, Gleeson, Demetriou, George, Cooke, Obst, Moore, Leo-Latu, King, Johnson, Morrison, Kirmond. Substitutes: Blaymire, Jeffries, Korkidas, Henderson.
Referee: I Smith (Oldham).
Full-back Richard Mathers grabbed two first-half tries to put Warrington on their way to a third Engage Super League win of the season over Salford, running out 27-10 winners.
Results
Engage Super League
Hull (6) 27 St Helens (22) 26
tries: T Briscoe tries: Meli 4
Turner Cunningham
Houghton
Manu
Tickle
goals: Tickle 3 goals: Lomax 3
d: Tickle
Att: 13,300
Leeds (18) 28 Wakefield (14) 22
tries: McGuire tries: Morrison
Jones-Buchanan Obst
Donald Murphy
Buderus Demetriou
goals: Sinfield 6 goals: Cooke 3
Att: 13,869
Salford (6) 10 Warrington (16) 27
tries: Henry tries: Hicks
Broughton Mathers 2
Higham
Solomona
goal: Tyrer goals: Bridge 3
d: Briers
Att: 6,093
P W D L F A Pts
Wigan 15 13 0 2 506 236 26
Warrington 16 12 0 4 513 238 24
St Helens 16 11 0 5 544 309 22
Hull 16 10 0 6 361 331 20
Leeds 16 9 1 6 414 334 19
Bradford 15 8 1 6 278 276 17
Huddersfield 15 8 0 7 374 250 16
Wakefield 16 7 0 9 340 373 14
Hull K R 15 7 0 8 305 393 14
Castleford 15 5 0 10 306 412 10
Crusaders RL 14 5 0 9 239 383 10
Salford 16 5 0 11 247 438 10
Harlequins RL 14 4 0 10 237 443 8
Catalans Dragons 15 2 0 13 194 442 4