Leeds Rhinos warm up for Wembley with victory over Hull FC
Last Updated: 22/08/15 1:18pm
Leeds Rhinos remain four points clear at the top of the Super League table after a hard-fought 36-22 victory over Hull FC at the KC Stadium.
The table-toppers rested key players ahead of next weekend's Challenge Cup final but still made it three wins from three at the start of the Super 8s and Rob Burrow's brace of tries included the 200th of his fantastic career.
Ash Handley was the key man early on for Leeds, pulling off a brilliant tackle to deny Steve Michaels before scoring the opening try in the sixth minute from a Josh Walters offload, after Zak Hardaker had taken Leeds 60 metres up the field.
But Hull were quick to respond and Mark Minichiello scored under the posts after spotting that Stevie Ward had slipped.
The rest of the opening period was somewhat scrappy, with Leeds looking somewhat out-of-sorts, and it remained 6-6 at half-time.
However, the second half was much better and Hull took the lead with a fine try, Michaels stepping past Handley to score after good work from Marc Sneyd, Dean Hadley and Jamie Shaul.
But Sneyd missed the conversion and Leeds then went 12-10 in front when Carl Ablett powered past Jordan Rankin to score from close range and Kevin Sinfield added the extras.
Leeds then stretched their advantage when Hardaker, having moved to stand-off, broke clear before sending Burrow on a run to the line.
The Rhinos set about looking for another score but they were sloppy on this occasion and Jack Downs grabbed a loose ball and sent Shaul racing away to score from 70 metres out.
But the hosts then fumbled Hardaker's restart and Burrow gathered the ball before putting Ryan Hall in down the left.
The Airlie Birds responded once again and Rankin went over with 15 minutes left after Shaul had claimed Jordan Abdull's clever chip-ahead.
That made it 24-22 to Leeds and the hosts then put the Rhinos under pressure as they tried to take the lead, only for Hull old boy Tom Briscoe to settle the match in favour of the visitors when he grabbed a loose ball and raced 90 metres to score a crucial try.
And a good night for the Rhinos ended in style, Sinfield breaking away before putting Burrow over for his landmark score.
