Super League: Leeds see off Warrington but lose skipper Kevin Sinfield
Leeds coach Brian McDermott doesn't believe skipper Kevin Sinfield suffered a break to his ankle against Warrington.
Last Updated: 22/02/14 11:28am
Zak Hardaker scored two tries and also laid on another for Tom Briscoe before the Rhinos held on at the death to clinch an 18-12 triumph over the Wolves.
However the result was soured by an ankle injury picked up by Kevin Sinfield, with the Leeds skipper having hobbled off the field with around seven minutes remaining.
"I don't think he's great," said McDermott afterwards. "I don't think it's a break.
"He'll go through all the processes with the medical staff and we'll get him scanned.
"I don't think it's a horrible one and it's too early to make predictions but I don't think it will be any less than a couple of weeks."
The hosts fell behind to an early Joel Monaghan try but hit back in impressive fashion, a stunning long-range score from Briscoe being sandwiched in between Hardaker's brace.
"On the whole, I'm happy with where we are at moment," McDermott said after his team made it two wins from two.
"But we're two games into a season and we know it will be tough next week at Catalan and in the weeks thereafter.
"Warrington were a lot better than last week and we knew they would be."
Hardaker didn't just excel in attack; he put in superb defensive display that included a tackle on opposite number Stefan Ratchford that had his head coach purring with delight.
"I had put my pen down and thought it was a try," McDermott added. "When I looked up it was play on and I couldn't work it out. I had to look at the replay to see he had done something special."
Improvement
Warrington set up a nervy finish when Ben Westwood touched down four minutes from the end but couldn't quite complete the turnaround.
But, after suffering a humiliating 38-8 home defeat by St Helens in their opening match, coach Tony Smith was happy with the improvement shown by his players.
"We were a lot better and I'm pleased about that," Smith said. "There were lot of areas that we worked on.
"Our goal-line defence was tested a fair bit in the first half and I thought it was terrific. Leeds' defence in the second half probably ended up wining the game for them.
"We had opportunities at the back end to take a point away but I thought Leeds were a little bit better than us."
Smith was delighted with the debuts of former Featherstone prop Anthony England and winger Gene Ormsby, who was up against England international Briscoe.
"Anthony wasn't out of place at all," he said. "He looked at home at Super League level."
As for Ormsby, he added: "I thought Gene, apart from one rookie error, was pretty strong and a bit of a handful himself. I was pleased for him."