For the 2015 treble winners, Leeds Rhinos’ season is all but over in the first week of May. Incredibly, Super League survival is Brian McDermott’s troubled side’s priority after they crashed out of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup, the trophy they lifted at Wembley the past two seasons.
Huddersfield Giants, the last team to beat Leeds in the sport’s oldest competition in 2013, unceremoniously ended the Rhinos’ run of nine consecutive winning ties last night and plunged their West Yorkshire neighbours into a genuine crisis. Already bottom of the table after last week’s league defeat by Huddersfield, thoughts are now turning at Headingley to the Middle 8 Qualifiers in August.
A try by Jimmy Keinhorst after 59 seconds was an early false dawn for Leeds. Their propensity to concede from penalties was illustrated by a run of three against them, swiftly followed by Danny Brough creating room for Ukuma Ta’ai, the thunderous Tonga forward. Brough, in pulling the strings and levers, was pivotal to the next try in exploiting room outside with Leroy Cudjoe for Jermaine McGillvary to wrestle his way past two defenders.
Brett Ferres’s night against his old club went from bad to worse. After losing possession with the line begging, he was sent to the sin-bin for dissent after a length-of-the-field try by Ryan Brierley. Jake Connor dropped a goal at the end of the half. Leeds fashioned a reply by Liam Sutcliffe, but Kyle Wood supported another break by Cudjoe in opening a 13-point gap.
Keinhorst’s second try provided no more than brief hope. Brough turned the screw with a jinking try beneath the posts, a further penalty and three more dropped goals. Anthony Mullally, another former Giant, pulled a late try back, but these are dark days for Leeds.
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Scorers: Huddersfield Giants: Tries: Ta’ai, McGillvary, Brierley, Wood, Brough. Goals: Brough 6. Dropped goals: Connor, Brough 3. Leeds Rhinos: Tries: Keinhorst 2, Sutcliffe, Mullally. Goals: Lilley 3.
Huddersfield Giants: R Brierley; J McGillvary, L Cudjoe, A Murphy, J Connor; D Brough, K Wood; E Crabtree, R Hinchcliffe, J Johnson, J Wardle, U Ta’ai, M Lawrence. Interchange: S Rapira, N Mason, O Roberts, S Wood.
Leeds Rhinos: Z Hardaker; A Golding, K Watkins, J Keinhorst, A Handley; L Sutcliffe, J Lilley; K Galloway, R Burrow, M Garbutt, J Walters, B Ferres, J Jones-Buchanan. Interchange: A Cuthbertson, M Achurch, A Mullally, L Briscoe.
Referee: B Thaler.