Leeds Rhinos trailed by 16 points with half an hour to play. They won 24-22. Chris Hankinson crashed over with three minutes left, Jake Connor kicked the conversion, and the Super League leaders walked out of a sold-out DIY Kitchens Stadium with a win that nobody saw coming at half-time.

The Round 22 fixture — a Thursday-night, 8pm kick-off at Wakefield's home ground — pitted first against second. Leeds arrived on 34 points from 21 games (17 wins, 4 losses); Wakefield sat just behind on 32 (16 wins, 5 losses). The gap was two points. It is now four, after a night that swung violently in both directions The Guardian.

Wakefield were razor-sharp for the first 50 minutes. Their completion rate — the percentage of sets of six tackles (a "set" being a team's possession cycle in rugby league) in which they hold the ball without error — sat at 85%, a figure that normally wins you the game. They built a 22-6 lead and looked every inch the side capable of overhauling Leeds at the summit.

Then the momentum shifted. Leeds, coached by Brad Arthur, began finding gaps that had not existed before the break. Tries came. The deficit shrank. Wakefield's control frayed just enough. With three minutes on the clock, Hankinson forced his way across the line. Connor held his nerve from the kick to nudge Leeds in front for the first time when it mattered most The Guardian.

The subtext added spice. Jack Sinfield lined up for Wakefield against the club that had released him the previous year. Facing your former employers is never straightforward; doing so in a top-of-the-table clash, in front of a full house, gave the occasion an edge that neither set of fans needed reminding of The Guardian.

What makes this stand out is the scale of the turnaround. Coming back from 22-6 down with 30 minutes to play is rare at any level, and rarer still in a match between the two best teams in the competition. Leeds did not fluke it — they chipped away, took their chances, and trusted their nerve in the closing minutes when Wakefield's had begun to wobble.

For Leeds, the four-point cushion at the top hands them breathing space with the business end of the season approaching. For Wakefield, the performance for long stretches was excellent; the final ten minutes will sting. In a league where every point shapes the play-off picture, neither side will linger long on this result.