Hull FC lose again as Rhinos rampant

It was a cold and wet night at Headingley evoking memories of the last time they met a team from Hull.

That night, away from home on this occasion, the Rhinos were kicked to death in the wet by Hull KR on the back of a great comeback win.

So, after another great comeback win against Huddersfield Giants, what would similar conditions and a clash with Hull FC bring, the Black and Whites arriving in West Yorkshire after a 40-0 hammering against Hull KR.

Well as they went to test young Davy Litten at fullback they were given an early warning as Litten broke clear and was only denied by a superb Aidan Sezer tackle.

It was then a 17 minute spell of you knock on, we knock on before Leeds thought they’d crossed after a delicate Aidan Sezer kicked but Rhyse Martin was judged to have bounced the ball.

Eventually it was the Rhinos who opened the scoring after 23 minutes. After a penalty, Blake Austin probed across the line, dummied, popped through and offloaded for the in form James McDonnell to cross for his third try in three games.

It may have been wet but the Rhinos still scored a delightful try to extend their lead. A lovely ball out the back saw Harry Newman release Nene MacDonald down the wing. The former Leigh Leopards man then made the bold decision to chip the ball back inside where Ash Handley was on hand to collect and score.

Leeds were in potent mood all of a sudden and a lovely short ball from Cameron Smith sent Tom Holroyd through a gap and for a big guy he showed amazing pace to storm to the try line getting the ball down despite some cover defenders.

For the second time tonight Rhyse Martin must have though a Sezer kick was set to yield a four pointer but he just ran out of space as he got to the ball.

Sezer had earlier gone off for a head injury assessment, passed it coming onto the field only to be taken off at halftime.

This meant Ash Handley was back to operating at fullback and the speedster was put into a nice pocket of space by a set play and carved through a gap and dummied over.

Hull needed to get a try back and after a chip to the corner and an error allowed Darnell McIntosh to pounce.

The Black and Whites were having a bit of a purple patch in the game but an error and a penalty undercut that and Mikolaj Oledzki crossed for Leeds’ fifth try after that as he went through a gap on Hull’s try line for a very simple try that won’t have pleased Tony Smith.

Hull were showing much more character in the second half and after a neat play by Ben McNamara, Davy Litten crossed for a deserved try.

It was you score we score in the second half and the Rhinos kept that up. After a jinking run from Liam Tindall, Rhyse Martin powered over from dummyhalf.