WOLVES’ rising young stars fended off bully-boy tactics at Leeds Rhinos last night, says Tony Smith.

He was impressed with the way his left-side of defence – 19-year-old Declan Patton, 20-year-old Ben Currie, 18-year-old Toby King and 22-year-old Gene Ormsby – handled the heavy artillery that was fired their way.

Although Wigan big guns Anthony Gelling and Joel Tomkins found them wanting on a couple of key plays the previous week, physical Carl Ablett and Brett Delaney had no such joy at Headingley Carnegie.

And the talented youngsters responded brilliantly when they all combined to set up a rare try for Roy Asotasi in the second half.

“I’ve got to say those young boys on the left side learned some lessons last week,” said Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby.

“They got their backsides kicked and noses rubbed in it as well, but they certainly turned up against Leeds.

“Leeds tried to bully them at times but they stood up to it. It’s no mean feat to stand up to Ablett, Delaney and people like that who are all so experienced.

“I thought it was really courageous of them and we had a lot of good performers across the board apart from those young boys.

“I know they were hurting last week after our defeat when they got shown up a bit. They certainly responded against Leeds.”

Perhaps Patton, King and Ormsby – playing their third successive games – took confidence from their continued selection and the faith shown in them.

Smith said: “I think they deserved their selection.

“I thought they were good against Wigan, just on a few big plays in defence they learned some lessons.

“I mentioned it last week that even Andrew Johns when he first started as a young half back used to get people running over the top of him until he learned how to defend.

“Some of our boys are still learning but overall they handled it very well, and as I said we had some really good performers across the board.”