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Rhinos charge past Wildcats

Leeds end Wakefield's winning run in fixture thanks to influential Webb

Last updated: 26th December 2009

Webb: Switched to stand-off

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Leeds scored three tries in each half to record an impressive 32-12 victory over Wakefield in front of a crowd of 8,797 at Headingley.

The Rhinos fielded six members of their Grand Final-winning team for the Boxing Day friendly which managed to survive the recent cold snap.

In the absence of England duo Kevin Sinfield and Danny McGuire, full-back Brent Webb was switched to stand-off with impressive results.

The New Zealand international crossed twice to cap a fine personal performance playing alongside stand-in captain Rob Burrow.

Festive dominance

Wakefield, who fielded new recruits Ben Jeffries, Terry Newton and Paul King, had threatened to pull off a third successive triumph in the annual festive fixture.

John Kear's troops broke the deadlock thanks to Dale Morton's early try and were well in the contest in the second half thanks to further scores from Luke George and James Davey.

However the Rhinos surged clear in the final quarter of the contest - the influential Webb turning from scorer to provider.

He set up the powerful Luke Burgess and then Ben Jones-Bishop, who was filling in for Webb at full-back before he heads for a season on loan with Super League rivals Harlequins.

Kallum Watkins grabbed the final try of the afternoon while Burrow added four goals to give the final scoreline a rather one-sided look.

The only disappointment for the hosts was the loss of second rower Carl Ablett to a leg injury midway through the first 40 minutes.