Leeds made it three wins out of three to set the early pace in the Tetley's Super League but they were taken all the way by a battling Wigan side in an action-packed clash in front of 18,124 absorbed spectators at Headingley.

The majority of the fans went away happy as the Rhinos bounced back from their Challenge Cup exit in style to end the Warriors' four-year unbeaten record at Headingley and condemn Mike Gregory's side to a second defeat in three games.

Leeds coach Tony Smith made six changes to the side that lost to St Helens and he will have been delighted with the performance of replacement second rower Jamie Jones-Buchanan, whose two first-half tries put them on the way to victory.

Brilliant young stand-off Danny McGuire also touched down twice but architect of the six-try show was skipper Kevin Sinfield, whose tactical kicking caused all the early damage.

Little went right in the early stages for the Warriors, who were already without five internationals and lost goalkicking winger Chris Melling with a knee injury in one of the first tackles of the match.

Wigan made light of the loss, with second-choice marksman Danny Tickle kicking four goals, but the Rhinos seized control of the game with four first-half tries.

The visitors went into the match on the back of a six-match unbeaten run at Headingley, where they enjoyed two remarkable 24-24 draws last season, but they made the worst possible start, conceding two tries in the first 12 minutes thanks to the boot of Sinfield.

The influential loose forward threaded a kick through the Wigan defence on seven minutes and the ball sat up nicely for Jones-Buchanan to touch down. Five minutes later his speculative punt bounced awkwardly for defenders Stephen Wild and Martin Aspinwall and the alert McGuire was on hand to claim the try.

Tickle's penalties kept the Warriors in touch at 12-6 but their luck was out again on the half-hour mark when winger Francis Cummins' pass inside bounced off second rower Gareth Hock and out of Kris Radlinski's reach, giving Jones-Buchanan a gift second try.

Spirited Wigan hit back when Hock got a superb one-handed pass out of a two-man tackle for teenage centre Kevin Brown to force his way over for a try.

But McGuire then demonstrated his superb support play when the ball flashed through five pairs of hands following Sinfield's midfield break to claim his second try.

Sinfield, who converted the first three tries, was off target for the first time but made amends in first-half injury time with a penalty after Wigan prop Danny Sculthorpe was punished for an off-the-ball challenge on Mathers.

Sinfield extended the Rhinos' lead to 26-12 three minutes into the second half when Hock was pulled up in front of the posts for ball-stealing and any prospect of a Wigan fightback was effectively ended shortly afterwards.

The visitors were denied a try when video referee Steve Cross decided that loose forward Sean O'Loughlin was in front of Danny Orr when he re-gathered the stand-off's kick.

And Leeds immediately made the most of the let-off, with substitute Willie Poching smashing clean through the Wigan defence with his first touch of the ball on 49 minutes and putting centre Chev Walker over for his side's fifth try.

Wigan collapsed against Bradford on the opening day of the season but they were full of fighting spirit tonight and kept the game alive with two quickfire tries from Wild.

Radlinski palmed the ball back from Danny Orr's kick to the corner for Wild to score his first try and then took Tickle's neat offload to race clear and set up the position for the powerful Wild to stretch out of a three-man tackle to plant the ball over the line for his second.

Fortunately for Leeds, Tickle was wide with both conversion attempts and they made sure of the win 11 minutes from the end when hooker Matt Diskin forced his way over from dummy half and Sinfield kicked his sixth goal, rendering Aspinwall's late try merely a consolation score.