Warrington Wolves 40 Leeds Rhinos 20: Rhinos taking it on the chin as they regroup ready for Saints

Given Saturday’s game was held in Cheshire, it is easy to see the point the England full-back was trying to make.

Most people in the Halliwell Jones Stadium, perhaps none more so than Briers himself, were surprised Warrington’s veteran stand-off was not given at least a yellow card after his wild indiscretion inflamed this qualifying play-off.

Defending champions Leeds were 10-6 ahead when the 35-year-old took offence to a particularly robust but fair challenge from Carl Ablett, who had swung him to the ground by his shirt collar.

It is normally the Rhinos second-row known for his pugilistic tendencies but here it was an irate Briers who rose up and took an almighty swipe that landed flush in the face of his stunned opponent, who did well not to retaliate.

Others did and after the expected melee broke out, referee James Child called over Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield and Briers but declined to even use the sin-bin and simply awarded the visitors a penalty.

It will be interesting to see if the match review panel are as lenient when they assess the game this morning especially considering so many players this season have been banned for fighting, including Leeds’ Ryan Bailey who was back from one such suspension to play his 300th career game.

Warrington, seeking to lift a maiden Super League title, have earned the week off and the right to select their semi-final opponents under the controversial ClubCall system.

But any suspension would deny them the services of a player who, as clearly demonstrated in this re-run of last year’s Grand Final, is still talismanic.

“Every other day of the week it’s a red card,” Hardaker told the Yorkshire Post. “He swung it (the punch) from Yorkshire anyway.

“With stuff like that the referee should control the game.

“There were a few dubious decisions by the referees which doesn’t help.

“The ‘benefit of the doubt’ try was after I got hold of the ball – I’m 100 per cent sure of that – so there were certain things in that game that don’t normally happen.

“But I think the best team won on the day; we weren’t good enough and have to regroup now.”

Leeds, who have a second chance of progressing in Friday’s home preliminary semi-final against St Helens, are right not to blame the officials for this sobering defeat.

They were over-run by a dominant Warrington pack, burly England second-row Ben Westwood helping himself to four tries off the back of promptings from Briers and Michael Monaghan, the experienced Australian hooker who had such a positive impact off the bench.

Brian McDermott’s side were 10-6 ahead at the time of that Briers flare-up, hooker Rob Burrow proving a real thorn in Warrington’s side.

His incisive dummy-half running created tries for England centre Kallum Watkins and Sinfield as Leeds responded to Westwood’s sixth-minute opener set up by a trademark Briers grubber.

But the hosts hit back as Monaghan’s first touch saw a fine cut-out pass send Simon Grix speeding through and they secured an 18-10 interval advantage via Westwood’s debatable second.

Briers’s pass unleashed the marauding forward who shrugged off Ryan Hall’s attempted tackle but appeared to have been denied by a brilliant last-ditch Hardaker tackle.

There was no clear view of a grounding on replay but video referee Phil Bentham deemed ‘benefit of the doubt’ to the ire of the champions.

Warrington raised their game after the break and the West Yorkshire side failed to match it.

Westwood had already been denied his hat-trick by a desperate Danny McGuire tackle early in the half but it was not long before the destructive 32-year-old completed his second treble of the season after Leeds failed to control Monaghan’s clever running from the ruck.

Briers’s 40/20 created more pressure and when Leeds did earn a rare attacking position via a penalty, prop Kylie Leuluai spilled on the first tackle after a huge collision with, almost inevitably, the inspirational Monaghan.

Even when the Australian schemer delivered a sloppy pass in front of the Leeds posts the ball bounced its way to Briers, who gleefully dived over and converted to make it 28-10.

Hardaker wriggled over for the first of his two tries but Westwood profited with his fourth in between and Ryan Atkins rounded things off for the impressive hosts after hacking on a wayward Sinfield pass.

“We’ll just refocus – it’ll be Friday night at Headingley, the place will be rocking and that will be something to look forward to,” said Hardaker. “We normally win it from fifth so it’s no different for us from that point of view.”

Warrington Wolves: Ratchford; Riley, Bridge, Atkins, J Monaghan; Briers, Grix; Hill, Higham, Wood, Waterhouse, Westwood, Harrison. Substitutes: Morley, M Monaghan, Carvell, Cooper.

Leeds Rhinos: Hardaker; Jones-Bishop, Watkins, Moon, Hall; McGuire, Sinfield; Leuluai, Burrow, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Bailey. Substitutes: Delaney, Singleton, Kirke, Sutcliffe.

Referee: J Child (Dewsbury).

Milestone to forget for Leeds’ Bailey

LEEDS Rhinos forward Ryan Bailey admits his 300th career game was a let-down but hopes to make up for it with a seventh Super League title at Old Trafford, writes Dave Craven.

The prop/loose-forward clocked up the impressive milestone in the champions’ 40-20 qualifying play-off loss at Warrington on Saturday.

He had returned from a one-game ban for fighting to bolster Leeds’ cause but they were still unable to get past the side they defeated in last year’s Grand Final.

“It was a tough game,” said Bailey, whose side face St Helens at Headingley on Friday in a second chance to reach the last four.

“Warrington started fast and I think we blew the race at the start as we were just playing catch-up.

“I’m knocking on now at 29 and it would have been good to get a win on my 300th game but we live to fight another day and we get another chance next week.

“We’ve got a full week’s training now to right some wrongs and get on with things.

“I think it will do us good and it’s just about us getting our performance right against St Helens at Headingley on Friday, sticking to our game-plan.”

The major talking point of Saturday’s game was Warrington stand-off Lee Briers staying on the field after punching Carl Ablett in an unprovoked attack.

Bailey, no stranger to the disciplinary process, said: “It’s the refs’ decision isn’t it? But obviously there’s a panel and they should have a look at that. It doesn’t matter what player it is or reputation, it should be a citing.”

Warrington coach Tony Smith claimed his player was defending himself while Leeds counterpart Brian McDermott distanced himself from the incident conceding his side were simply not good enough.

“We finished a lot worse than we started,” said McDermott. “In the first 10 or 15 minutes, we were not far away from where we needed to be but midway through the second half we were not there at all. Warrington were very good. Physically they dominated the game and executed some brilliant plays.

“We wanted to win and have next weekend off. Nobody wants to carry a loss through them in the play-offs.

“We’ve got to turn things around in training and develop a more steely attitude for the next game.”

Leeds’ Danny McGuire left wearing a protective boot after twisting his ankle but is expected to be fit to face St Helens.