Leeds Rhinos’ Richard Agar hails Ash Handley’s response to England snub | Willie Poching rues Wakefield Trinity’s slow start | Rugby League News

Ash Handley was left out of Shaun Wane’s England train-on squad this week, but grabbed three tries against Wakefield to help Leeds to their first win of the 2022 Betfred Super League season

Ash Handley is congratulated by Cameron Smith on scoring a try for Leeds against Wakefield

Richard Agar praised winger Ash Handley after he responded to his England snub with a hat-trick of tries to help Leeds Rhinos break their Super League duck with a win over Wakefield Trinity.

Handley was left out of England coach Shaun Wane’s latest train-on squad in midweek but touched down twice in eight minutes towards the end of the first half to put his side into a 30-0 lead against the Rhinos’ West Yorkshire rivals.

The 26-year-old completed his haul by scoring the visitors’ only try of the second half at the Be Well Support Stadium as they ran out 34-18 winners and head coach Agar was impressed with how he responded to being overlooked this time around by Wane.

“That’s the type of kid that Ash is,” Agar said. “Rather than kick stones and sulk, he set his stall out to make his form as good as it can be and hope the coach will change his mind which he has done in the past.

“He’s [Wane] always said he’s going to pick on form and he’s to be applauded for that. That’s the challenge to a number of our guys. It was a great response from Ash tonight.”

The Rhinos, who had lost their three opening matches, were boosted by the return of overseas duo Rhyse Martin and David Fusitu’a and a first appearance of the season by centre Harry Newman, with all three making their mark in the victory.

Fusitu’a, concussed on his Super League debut a month ago, scored his first try for the club and Newman capped an impressive display with a classy try before limping off six minutes into the second half, while Martin kicked five goals from seven attempts on his return from compassionate leave in Australia.

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Richard Agar said it was a ‘step in the right direction’ after Leeds Rhinos picked up their first win of the season against Wakefield Trinity in the Super League

Agar, who withdrew Newman as a precaution after feeling his hamstring, was delighted to get off the mark.

“I understand we’ve had a bumpy start, but we’ve been very close in two games,” Agar said. “Having the inclusions back in the team certainly helped.

“We scored some nice tries and I wanted to see that despite the conditions. We showed good early ball movement which put us in good position.

“I don’t think we eased off in the second half. It was a bit more stop-start and we lost the penalty count 6-1 in the second half – we need to have a closer look to see if there is anything we can do about that. We also got stretched a bit when we down to 12 men.”

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Highlights of the Super League match between Wakefield Trinity and Leeds Rhinos

The result leaves Wakefield coach Willie Poching still waiting for his first win of the season, but he was encouraged by his side’s second-half rally in which they scored three tries to one.

Poching was forced to play back-row forwards Jay Pitts and James Batchelor in the centres in the absence of injured duo Thomas Minns and Corey Hall and he was forced into another re-shuffle after losing captain Jacob Miller with a head knock after just five minutes.

The Wakefield boss confirmed Miller will be forced to sit out the home game against Toulouse Olympique next Friday.

“To lose your chief architect so early was disruptive,” Poching said. “The first 20 minutes had a big impact on the game. Whilst we had some intent, we didn’t quite hold onto that aggression for long enough.

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Willie Poching was disappointed in Wakefield’s first-half performance against Leeds Rhinos and felt their discipline let them down

“They played extremely well. They came with a plan, even in those conditions, and the scoreboard got away from us.

“I tried to rally around them at half-time and I’m really proud of the response.”