Hungry Hull hunt down Rhinos

Hull bounced back from their derby defeat to record a stunning 17-6 win over Leeds - a result that hands St Helens the leaders' shield.

Gareth Raynor scored two tries against his former club to help the Airlie Birds record just their third win at Headingley in the Super League era.

Carl Ablett had given Leeds the lead but the Rhinos struggled to find a cutting edge, leaving them facing up to finishing the regular season in second spot.

Perhaps still stinging from last week's embarrassing 42-6 loss to arch-rivals Hull KR, Peter Sharp's side looked eager to make amends.

Early impression

Garreth Carvell certainly made an early impression on Matt Diskin by levelling the Leeds hooker with a shoulder charge after the ball had gone.

Leeds were much the better side going forward but struggled to turn their territorial domination into points.

Scott Donald seemed certain to score on the left only for Craig Hall to intercept Keith Senior's pass to his winger, who had a clear sight of the line.

Eventually the deadlock was broken on the half hour mark, Ablett the unlikely scorer as he grabbed his first Super League try by getting on the end of Rob Burrow's grubber kick.

However, Hull hit back with two tries in a five-minute spell to take a surprise lead at the interval.

Wayne Godwin darted over from dummy half for the first, leaving Danny Tickle a simple conversion to level matters at six apiece.

That was followed up by a controversial score from Raynor that needed the was finally given after a lengthy delay while replays were studied.

The winger collected Matthew Head's kick and was adjudged by the video referee to have touched the ball down before Brent Webb dragged him into touch.

Stout defence

The same official was not so kind to the home side at the start of the second half, ruling out a Keith Senior score as Gareth Ellis had offloaded after the ball-carrying arm had hit the deck.

Hull defended stoutly to keep hold of their lead, even managing to forge further ahead when a rare foray into their opponents half led to a penalty that Tickle slotted over.

A drop goal from the excellent Matthew Head pushed the gap to seven points with 15 minutes to play and Raynor wrapped up the points with his second.

In the final minute he dived over in the left corner, making amends for dropping the ball next to the line just a minute before.