Super League: Harvey Livett hat-trick helps Warrington Wolves seal 33-22 comeback victory over Leeds Rhinos
Harvey Livett notched a hat-trick as Warrington scored four tries in the last 20 minutes to snatch a dramatic 33-22 victory over Leeds in a pulsating Super League encounter at Headingley.
The Wolves' eight-match winning run looked to be over when the Rhinos over-turned an early 10-0 deficit to lead 22-11 after an hour.
But Leeds-born centre Ryan Atkins gave them hope with a 62nd-minute try before Livett, the man given the chance to the fill the boots of injured England forward Ben Currie, went over twice in three minutes to turn the game on its head.
Substitute Ben Murdoch Masila then piled on the agony for the defending champions with a last-minute try that put the seal on a ninth successive victory that keeps Warrington in touch with leaders St Helens.
It was sweet revenge for the Wolves' opening-day defeat at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and represents another setback for the Rhinos, who missed the chance to climb into the top four.
Leeds coach Brian McDermott handed a home debut to Auckland-born prop Nathaniel Peteru, who made his comeback from a ruptured bicep sustained in the opening match of the season at Warrington, but they were trailing 10-0 by the time he entered the action.
Livett made his mark as early as the seventh minute when he twice kicked ahead into space in the Leeds 20-metre area and stand-off Kevin Brown also put his boot to the ball before winning the race to touch down for the opening try.
Bryson Goodwin added the conversion but then struck an upright with a penalty and was also off target on 18 minutes when Livett dummied his way over from dummy half on the last tackle for the Wolves' second try.
Goodwin was then forced off with a head knock which caused a re-shuffle, but Warrington thought they had scored again when that man Livett squeezed a pass out of a two-man tackle to Murdoch Masila, but video referee Phil Bentham ruled he had been tackled short of the line.
Two handling errors from Golding, which summed up the Rhinos' lack of confidence, put his side under enormous pressure, but he made amends eight minutes before half-time when he went on an arcing run to the line and stretched out of Livett's tackle to touch down.
Relieved to concede just four points during the Rhinos' resurgence, Wolves scrum-half Tyrone Roberts took the opportunity to open up a two-score lead with a drop goal on the stroke of half-time.
The one point began to look useful when Leeds stand-off Joel Moon forced his way over for his side's second try four minutes into the second half, taking three defenders over the line with him, and Kallum Watkins' first conversion cut the deficit to 11-10.
Leeds had all the momentum by then and it was no surprise when they hit the front, winger Ryan Hall taking Carl Ablett's long pass to finish off an exquisitely-worked move in which Richie Myler handled twice.
As Warrington's discipline deteriorated, Leeds' comeback looked to be complete three minutes later when Ablett burst through a yawning gap for their fourth try and Watkins kicked his second touchline conversion to extend the lead to 22-11.
But if the game was up, nobody told the visitors.
Atkins sparked the late flurry by gathering the ball superbly from Brown's kick for a try and Stefan Ratchford added the conversion to bring his side to within five points.
And that was the signal for Livett, by then playing in the threequarters, to take centre stage once more.
He stormed over from Ratchford's pass on 68 minutes and two minutes later finished off a superb break by the England full-back to complete his hat-trick and top a man-of-the-match display.