Rhinos rout sorry Bulls

Bradford slump to defeat at Headingley

Last updated: 20th March 2008

brent webb

Webb: Scintillating hat-trick

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Leeds scored eight tries without reply on Thursday night to send local rivals Bradford to a 44-2 defeat at a packed Headingley.

Australian Brent Webb crossed for a hat-trick while Rob Burrow scored twice and added two conversions as the Bulls' defence was torn to shreds.

It is the second week in succession that the Rhinos have kept a clean sheet as they move four points clear at the top of Super League.

Both teams were missing half a dozen regulars and things got worse for the Rhinos in the fourth minute when Kylie Leuluai was carried off after being knocked unconscious following a clash with Chris Feather.

But the hosts shrugged off the blow by scoring five first-half tries without reply, four within the space of 17 minutes as the Bulls defence went AWOL.

An early penalty from Bradford's Paul Deacon was soon rendered meaningless when Matt Diskin's grubber kick bounced kindly for Jamie Jones-Buchanan to touch down in the 15th minute.

Caught napping

Kevin Sinfield, whose scoring run goes back 48 matches, hit the woodwork with the conversion attempt but found the target when full-back Webb scored a second try on 22 minutes, following a neat offload from the skipper.

Webb then took a 'bomb' behind his own try-line and Jones-Buchanan caught the Bulls napping with a quickly taken tap, evading several would-be tacklers before unselfishly offloading for Lee Smith to score the try.

The game slipped further away from the Bulls with half-time approaching, Deacon losing possession to Gareth Ellis, who sent scrum-half Burrow away for the simplest of scores.

Ellis then ghosted past Chris Nero and Matt James to send Webb away for another solo try.

The second half began in similar fashion and any thoughts Bradford may have had of a comeback were soon extinguished - Deacon's grubber kick in sight of the Leeds line went straight into the hands of Leeds substitute Luke Burgess, whose quick thinking allowed Scott Donald to gallop clear for an 80-metre score.

Bulls hooker Terry Newton was placed on report for illegal use of the elbow on Diskin before Deacon and Semi Tadulala were both held up on the Leeds try-line by some remarkable Rhinos defence.

And to rub salt into the gaping wounds, Burrow beavered his way past half a dozen defenders to bag his second after 61 minutes and Webb was on hand to collect Tansey's kick seven minutes later to complete a hat-trick.