Marc Sneyd has made a habit of producing game-winning moments for Hull in recent years and this was the second time in little over a fortnight the 27-year-old has kicked the decisive point to secure victory.
Leeds touched down three times in 11 minutes to lead by four points in the second half, but Carlos Tuimavave’s try levelled the scores and Sneyd’s drop goal secured Hull’s first Super League home victory against Leeds since September 2014.
His half-back partner Albert Kelly also played a significant part in the victory. The stand-off is reportedly garnering interest in the National Rugby League about a potential move home. While he remains at Hull they undoubtedly have a magnificent – albeit sometimes erratic – talent.
“Albert was very tidy,” the Hull coach, Lee Radford, said. “But better than his game in attack was his defence; he was racking up some incredible numbers and he was great.”
Kelly was at his menacing best here against Leeds, having a hand in all four of Hull’s tries which originally put them into a commanding 14-point lead, before the Rhinos rallied magnificently to lead by four with 15 minutes remaining.
After Kelly’s kick led to the try by Tuimavave to level the scores, though, Sneyd kicked the match-winning drop goal which moved Hull into the top four and secured their first Super League victory over the reigning champions since 2014.
Leeds fall to sixth on the Super League table as a result of this defeat, but the focal point of their coach, Brian McDermott, here was not the result – which he insisted Hull merited – but the way Super League games are being officiated this season.
“Challenge Cup finals don’t have as many penalties in them,” he said. “Semi-finals and play-off games don’t. We play a different game for the first two thirds of the season than we do at the end.”
His counterpart agreed. “I think it’s statistically proven that when the Super 8s come around, the pea isn’t blown out of the whistle as much,” Radford said. “Why? I don’t know.”
By and large, Hull and Kelly were impressive throughout. After the stand-off provided inch-perfect passes for Jake Connor and Bureta Faraimo to cross, he then provided another wonderful assist for Connor’s second after the break.
The only negative was that Sneyd converted only one of those tries; and when Leeds hit back through Joel Moon, Ryan Hall and Matt Parcell – the latter awarded as a penalty try following alleged foul play from Josh Bowden – Kallum Watkins nervelessly converted all three to put the Rhinos four points ahead.
Hull and Kelly, though, were not done – and nor was Sneyd. Although he failed to convert Tuimavave’s try with seven minutes remaining to leave the scores locked, he was not as wasteful with his first – and only – drop goal attempt with four minutes remaining.
