A late Scott Taylor try at Headingley send the travelling Black & White fans into delirium, as Tony Smith’s side made it two wins from two with a 22-18 victory.
Hull dominated the contest for long period, and led 10-6 at half-time, with tries from Cam Scott and Liam Sutcliffe putting Hull ahead. But a surge from Leeds saw them take the lead into the closing ten minutes.
But the late try from Taylor saw FC get over the line with their fifth win in six against the Rhinos at Headingley.
Team News
Tony Smith named an unchanged 17 from the side that defeated Castleford in front of 15,000 fans last Sunday, with just one change to the starting line-up.
Joe Lovodua came into the side from the bench to start at loose-forward, with Brad Fash moving to prop and Chri Satae dropping to the bench.
The game again came too soon for Andre Savelio (knee) as he continued to recover from injury, while Ligi Sao (dead leg) and Carlos Tuimavave (Achilles) remained unavailable.
Carlos Tuimavave, Jake Trueman, Connor Wynne, Mitieli Vulikijapani, Jamie Shaul were also unavailable through injury.
The Match
After building some early pressure on the Rhinos line, the Black & Whites opened the scoring on the 12 minute mark as Cam Scott took a perfectly timed short ball from Jake Clifford to dash through the line and touch down.
The hosts soon hit back though on the twenty minute mark, with Cam Smith shrugging off a tackle from Joe Lovodua to power over. Martin converted to give Leeds the lead.
Hull regained their lead as Liam Sutcliffe touched down against his former employers – Chris Satae showed some lovely feet to break a tackle, and send an offload over to the left edge. The centre eventually ended up with the ball and powered his way over. Clifford converted.
FC thought they had a third score when Kane Evans drove over the line, but were denied by the video referee as the Fijian prop dropped the ball in the process of trying to touch down.
Half-Time: Leeds Rhinos 6-10 Hull FC
FC started the second-half the better side, and took control of the game when Adam Swift raced away to touch down. A brilliant ball from Jordan Lane on half-way put Josh Griffin through a gap, with the back-rower feeding Swifty who had the pace to finish. Clifford converted to make it a ten point gap.
Leeds hit back once more though in a real war of attrition, with Kruise Leeming collected a Justin Sangare offload close to the line. Martin converted and the gap was four.
Leeds had two great chances to hit the front – firstly through Cam Smith, who broke down field but could only find a final pass into the arms of Cam Scott as he approached the line.
Their second chance came from a similar break through Ash Handley – his final pass to Blake Austin went to ground just metres from the line.
The Rhinos did hit the front though for the first time in the game with ten minutes to play – a wide ball to David Fusitu’a saw the winger step past Adam Swift to score. Martin’s kick put Leeds ahead.
But there was still a twist in the tale as the Black & Whites made it two wins from two – Scott Taylor powered over from close range with five minutes on the clock to send the traveling Airlie Birs supporters into delirium on the Western Terrace.
Full-Time: Leeds Rhinos 18-22 Hull FC
Squads:
Hull FC: Tex Hoy, Adam Swift, Liam Sutcliffe, Cam Scott, Darnell McIntosh, Jake Clifford, Ben McNamara, Brad Fash, Brad Dwyer, Scott Taylor, Jordan Lane, Josh Griffin, Joe Lovodua
Interchange: Danny Houghton, Chris Satae, Joe Cator, Kane Evans
18th Man: Jack Brown
Leeds: Rochie Myler, David Fusitua, Nene Macdonald, Ash Handley, Derrell Olpherts, Blake Austin, Aidan Sezer, Zane Tetevano, Kruise Leeming, Tom Holroyd, Morgan Gannon, Rhyse Martin, Cam Smith
Interchange: Justin Sangare, James Donaldson, Jarrod O’Connor, Sam Lisone.
Scorers:
Hull FC Tries: Cam Scott (12), Liam Sutcliffe (27), Adam Swift (49), Scott Taylor (75)
Hull FC Goals: Clifford (3/4)
Leeds Tries: Smith (19), Kruise Leeming (56), David Fusitu’a (70)
Leeds Goals: Martin (3/3)
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