Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 6-28 Leeds Rhinos

Wakefield (4) 6
Tries: Johnson Goals: Griffin
Leeds (0) 28
Tries: Watkins 4, Buderus Goals: Sinfield 4

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Watkins signed a new contract with the Rhinos in February

Kallum Watkins scored four tries as Leeds defeated lowly Wakefield to earn their first Super League away win of the season.

Greg Johnson's score, coupled with Rhinos' Luke Burgess being sin-binned, had the Wildcats 4-0 up at half-time.

But then Watkins took over, crossing three times, with Wakefield only replying through a Josh Griffin kick.

Danny Buderus went over before Watkins got his fourth, Kevin Sinfield kicking the last of his four goals.

Wakefield dominated most of the first half, but stout defending from the Rhinos restricted them to just one score.

Indeed, it was Leeds' Ryan Hall who had a try chalked off for a forward pass before Glenn Morrison found a gap in the visitors defence, with Johnson eventually taking advantage to touch down.

Burgess was ordered off for a knock-on and interference, but the hosts failed to add to their score and took only a slender lead to the interval.

Watkins, playing at right wing rather than centre because of Leeds' injury problems, made them pay in the second half.

His first score came after a Brent Webb run and, after Wakefield's Griffin kicked a penalty, Watkins caught Paul McShane's up-and-under to go over for his second.

He completed his hat-trick after being put into space by Sinfield, who was also involved as Buderus went over under the posts.

Watkins then grabbed his fourth by out-jumping Luke George to complete a scoreline that flattered the Rhinos.

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Leeds coach Brian McDermott:
"In terms of how much we had to defend and our attitude towards defence - based on where it's been for the last couple of weeks - it was outstanding.

"Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Luke Burgess and Kyle Leuluai were immense with the amount of defending we had to do.

"Biffa (Buchanan) in particular didn't take a backwards step and had to defend a lot of traffic."

Wakefield coach John Kear:
"I think it was a little bit harsh on us but it's part of the learning curve that we're having to go through as a team.

"Kallum Watkins makes really difficult skills look very, very easy.

"The way he can climb and catch high balls under pressure is all credit to the kid - I thought he was sensational today."

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Wakefield: Murphy; G Johnson, Griffin, Dean, George; Jeffries, Lee; Korkidas, Rinaldi, P Johnson, Mariano, Morrison, Howarth.
Replacements: Veivers, Wildie, Amor, Henderson.

Leeds: Webb; Watkins, Ablett, Senior, Hall; Sinfield, Burrow; Leuluai, Buderus, Bailey, Clarkson, Hauraki, Jones-Buchanan.
Replacements: Pitts, McShane, Cross, Burgess.

Referee: James Child (Dewsbury)

Attendance: 8,763.