Leeds Rhinos coach Rohan Smith alert to 'form team' Warrington Wolves' threats as Super League hots up

Warrington began Betfred Super League round seven sitting third in the table, two points behind the leading pair and ahead of four sides - including Rhinos - on for and against. The league standings suggest it is the sort of game Leeds need to win if they are going to secure a play-off spot and push to be in the top-four and Smith reckons that race is set to go to the wire.

“I am not a table watcher,” Smith insisted. “But it is important to play well, firstly and to get a win this weekend, as it is every week. It is a very tight-fought competition.

“There’s a number of teams on four wins and two defeats and a couple on five and one and a couple not far behind. It is a congested competition, which I think most people expected it would be this year.

“It is another chance to test ourselves against one of the form teams of the competition so far so we will be looking forward to improving on last week in some ways and taking some other things from last week forward with us.”

Rhinos produced a performance of two halves in their 26-6 Easter derby win at Castleford Tigers, withstanding huge pressure in a scoreless first period and going on to run in four tries after the break. The defensive effort gave them a platform to build on, but Smith reckons they will need to be as good this week.

“It reinforces that we can do it,” he said. “We’ve had the fewest line breaks made against us, we’ve had tries scored from close range and from some kick deflections and some barges, lack of concentration at times, but overall we’ve been difficult to break down.

“That really doesn’t count for anything on Friday. We have got to start again with the same mentality and intensity, be difficult to break down and get that complementary game going where our attack is flowing and that helps our defence and our defence does well and helps our attack.”

Rhinos have won four of their last five meetings with Warrington, who are missing suspended pack leader Paul Vaughan along with fellow forwards Joe Philbin and Zane Musgrove after they both failed a head injury assessment in last Saturday’s defeat by Catalans Dragons. Smith warned: “They are a strong group.

“They’ve got a very sharp spine who work well together and some quick people on the end of the line. I know they’re missing a couple of their forward pack, but they’ve got a lot of good forwards who are still there.

“They have set the standard at the top of the table, along with a couple of other teams. They have been among the leaders so far and we understand there’s a lot of threat across the board, George Williams and Matt Dufty particularly.”