Should Brian McDermott ever decide to turn his back on coaching rugby league, he may well fancy trying his hand at motivational speaking. His Leeds side are now four wins from four at the start of Super League XX. Amazingly though, they have only been winning at the interval in one of those games.
While their second-half performances against Hull KR and Widnes were impressive, this was something from another planet; 43 unanswered points in the second period told only half the story as Leeds overcame a 12-0 reverse at the break to win in scintillating style.
It was a historic night for the Leeds captain, Kevin Sinfield, who further cemented his position among the all-time greats. His personal tally of 15 points ensured he moved up to fourth on rugby league’s points scorers list on a night when several major milestones were reached. None, however, were quite as big as Sinfield’s.
The big talking point prior to the game was Hull’s inclusion of the centre Steve Michaels – who was reportedly issued with an arrest warrant in his native Australia last week as part of the nationwide drugs sting engulfing Australian sport. The Hull head coach, Lee Radford, shrugged off any talk of that being a distraction, insisting that it is very much business as usual until the club is informed of a decision from the relevant authorities.
“He’s not had any dialogue with anyone from Australia; he’s nothing to go back home for at the moment,” Radford said. “If it’s made official, we’ll tackle it. I’ve heard nothing about drugs charges except for a press report.”
On the field though, this was all about Leeds and their outstanding comeback, as they rallied incredibly to romp to the top of the early Super League table.
“I didn’t think we were that far off,” McDermott said. “We weren’t in the game in the first half and Hull were almost unplayable … 43 points in the second half is an impressive stat for us to take home.”
To their credit, Hull were indeed incredible in that first half – near faultless, in fact – and a 12-0 lead at the break was perhaps the least they deserved.
The opening half was all about another veteran half-back in Hull’s Leon Pryce, whose two tries took him to a career tally of 200.
That was as good as it got for the home side, as whatever McDermott said at the break clearly had the desired effect. It took only 40 seconds after the restart for Leeds’ fortunes to change. Danny McGuire dashed over for a superb try before a brilliant pass from the half-back then put Brad Singleton away for another.
Two tries in five minutes quickly became three in 13, and as Sinfield converted McGuire’s second try, he surpassed the former Bradford and Warrington half-back John Woods to move on to 3,986 career points. He would finish with more too, as conversions of subsequent tries from Kallum Watkins and Kylie Leuluai extended Leeds’ lead further, and confirmed the two points would be heading back along the M62 with the Rhinos.
It got better too; a pair of Rob Burrow tries either side of a drop-goal from Sinfield proved to be the icing on the cake on a wonderful night for the Leeds skipper.
Hull FC Shaul; Lineham, Michaels, Yeaman, Talanoa; Pryce, Sneyd; Paea, Houghton, Bowden, Ellis, Minichiello, Westerman Interchange Turgut, Paleaaesina, Abdull, Rankin
Tries Pryce 2 Goals Sneyd 2
Leeds Hardaker; Briscoe, Watkins, Moon, Hall; Sinfield, McGuire; Cuthbertson, Aiton, Peacock, Ablett, Ward, Jones-Buchanan Interchange Achurch, Burrow, Singleton, Leuluai
Tries McGuire 2, Singleton, Watkins, Leuluai, Burrow 2 Goals Sinfield 7 Drop-goals Sinfield
Referee R Silverwood (Dewsbury)
