Leeds Rhinos vs Hull FC Review

 After the joy of last week the morale of Leeds fans was brought crashing down to earth when they witnessed their team lose 31-8 to a depleted Hull FC team. Jake Connor was the star for the men in black and white as they scored 31 unanswered points in an utterly dominant performance.

Both teams saw players receive yellow cards in a fiery first 20 minutes of the contest as Kane Evans and Matt Prior were both sent for an enforced rest because of high tackles just minutes apart. In a tough game where play was focused in the middle of the park it became clear that the Hull forwards, led by Chris Satae and Ligi Sao, were beginning to gain the upper hand and make more metres each set than their Leeds counterparts.

This pressure finally told in the 19th minute of the game when Jake Connor broke the deadlock. After Ben Mcnamara was allowed to carry into the Leeds 20m line the ball was worked out to the left hand side in the subsequent two carries. Jake Connor called for the ball on the final tackle and he dummied a kick on the last before going himself and finding a gap where Jack Walker slipped in the line. Connor scored a similar try in the 34th minute when once again a Hull player, Brad Fash on this occasion, was allowed to maraude into the Leeds 20m zone. The ball then passed along the Hull line to Connor who dummied and simply waltzed his way through the gap between Austin and Briscoe. 

In between these two solo efforts he also produced a piece of magic to throw a lovely floated cut out pass that missed out two players and allowed Adam Swift to score in the corner.

Going into the second half it was clear that the next try scorer was crucial if Leeds wanted to win the game. They almost got off to the perfect start when Fusitu’a found himself flying horizontal through the air trying to ground the ball in the corner. It was sent to the video referee who found that he placed the ball on the touch line just milliseconds before grounding the rest of the ball in the ingoal. 

This was the last moment of joy for an increasingly discontented Leeds crowd as Hull FC took total control of the game. Just five minutes into the second half Andre Savelio got Hull’s fourth try of the game when Sezer failed to tackle the big second rower and allowed him to run in from 10 metres out. The fifth and final try came from the boot of young Hull hooker Jordan Johnstone who was playing as a loose forward. Off the back of a break by winger Vulikijapani, Johnstone poked through kick into the ingoal area that was touched down by the on rushing half back Joe Lovadua.

Leeds did cross for 2 consolation tries in the final 6 minutes of the game through centres Tom Briscoe and Liam Sutcliffe. Briscoe playing back on the wing received a floated pass from Sezer which allowed him to dive over in the corner. Sutcliffe similarly was the player to finish off a move where Leeds were finally able to create an overlap which gave him an unchallenged path to the line. 

During these reviews I try to find both positives and negatives in the Rhinos performance however I am struggling to find anything of note from the game to talk up as a positive. The bemusement for fans started with the team sheets when it was announced that Corey Johnson would be starting ahead of Brad Dwyer, who many expected to start at hooker. This bemusement was vindicated when Dwyer replaced Johnson early in the first half and then played the rest of the match. As usual for Dwyer, who is such a reliable performer, he was one of the few Leeds players who could hold their head high and say that they performed well on the night. 

Where the game was won and lost was in the difference between the two teams when carrying the ball. Throughout the match Hull players carried with far more intent than the Leeds players and consistently made far more metres per carry. This difference in intent allowed Hull to control the speed of the play the ball in both defence and attack. Leeds players were always running into a wall of black and white defenders who had ample time to set as a cohesive defensive unit. Whereas, Hull players were able to run right through the middle of the Leeds defence who were never fully set after the previous tackle. 

What was even more disappointing to see was the Leeds defence once Hull got within striking distance of the Leeds line. Most of the Hull tries were almost gifted to Hull with some very weak defence. Even though Jake Connor was outstanding on the night, the two tries he scored summed up the night for Leeds. He was able to cross the line almost untouched as the Leeds defence fell for the simplest of dummies likely brought on by the fear of his passing game. Similarly for the try for the try of Andre Savelio, a simple 1 on 1 tackle was missed by Sezer despite the fact Savelio received an innocuous pass well before the Leeds line. 

If this Leeds team want to be contenders at the end of the year and not lose touch with the teams above them they need to bounce back straight away when they visit the AJ Bell stadium on Friday night. The team will be boosted by the return of captain Kruise Leeming who’s drive and creativity was missed badly against Hull FC.

Thank you for reading and remember all Leeds aren’t we.