Rhinos charge past Quins

Lauitiiti: try on his return

Leeds overcame a 14-6 first-half deficit to beat Harlequins 40-20 and book their place in the last eight of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

The Rhinos clinched a sixth successive win in all competitions, running in seven tries to make sure coach Brian McDermott got the better of his former club at Headingley.

The only disappointment for the hosts was the loss of veteran centre Keith Senior with a knee injury five minutes from the end.

Quins can take some crumbs of comfort from a battling display on their travels, though this latest reverse means they have now gone 10 games without a win.

Threatened

They threatened to cause an almighty upset in the fifth-round tie when they produced a three-try scoring burst in 18 minutes to turn a 6-0 deficit into an eight-point lead.

Winger Chris Melling took David Howell's pass to score the Londoners' first try before full-back Luke Dorn stretched out of a two-man tackle to mark his return from injury with his eighth try of the season.

Former Rhino Mark Calderwood then took Chad Randall's pass to score his second try for Harlequins, Luke Gale - another ex-Leeds player coming up against his old team - converting to make it 14-6.

Leeds, though, hit back with a three-try burst of their own in the final 12 minutes of an entertaining opening half.

Having earlier broken the deadlock through Zak Hardaker's fourth try in just three senior appearances, the hosts closed the gap when second rower Jamie Jones-Buchanan forced his way over from close range.

Trademark offloads

Centre Brett Delaney then proved unstoppable from 10 metres out and, under a minute later, substitute Ali Lauitiiti had also touched down for the Rhinos.

The former New Zealand international, back after a two-month absence with a torn calf, set Hardaker free with one of his trademark offloads before taking a return pass that left him with the task of side-stepping his way past Dorn.

It took McDermott's men until the 53rd minute to move further clear, prop Kylie Leuluai taking Danny Buderus' pass to burst through to the try-line.

Ryan Hall's try 12 minutes later put paid to any hopes of a Quins comeback, although the visitors continued to battle hard right through to the final hooter.

Ben Bolger pounced on a stray pass near his own line from Kevin Sinfield to get them a late consolation, although that wasn't quite the end of the scoring.

Second-rower Chris Clarkson galloped clear from the halfway line, Sinfield slotting over the conversion before adding a last-minute penalty to take his tally to six goals from eight attempts.