Fitting Headingley send off for departees as Leeds Rhinos get better of Hull KR

Leeds Rhinos provided a fitting send-off from Emerald Headingley Stadium for the four players leaving the club at the end of the season as they defeated Hull Kingston Rovers 36-12 and confirmed the fixtures in the Super League play-offs.

Though their spot in the top six was already confirmed prior to kick-off, with their victory in the final ‘regular’ league game of the season, the Rhinos sealed a fifth-place finish and will travel to Wigan Warriors in the ‘Eliminator game’ next Thursday.

However, Leeds will play all of their games away from home, so the visit of the Robins provided the blue and amber faithful with a chance to thank end-of-season departees Rob Lui, Konrad Hurrell, King Vuniyayawa and Alex Sutcliffe for their service.

After the full-time whistle, the players were unable to do a traditional ‘lap of honour’ due to COVID regulations, but 38-year-old Lui, who is returning home to Australia, stood in the centre circle and spoke emotionally to the crowd.

Two hours before that moment, the stand-off broke through the KR line to power over the try line and open the scoring. Even though teammate Ash Handley made an error not long after to gift the visitors a try, Leeds never really looked troubled.

The team that won the game would claim fifth while the losers would take sixth and the final spot in the play-offs. Rovers have undoubtedly been the ‘surprise package’ of the campaign and will now head to take on Warrington Wolves in their own ‘Eliminator game’ next Friday.

Tony Smith’s side deservedly take the praise that has been given to them up until this point in the season, but Leeds carried out a demolition job at Headingley and unpicked the Robins’ defence at every possible opportunity.

Richard Agar’s Rhinos went back ahead on the half-hour mark through captain Matt Prior then extended their advantage with a try from Tom Holroyd. At 18-6, KR arguably could have gone in at half-time with a chance of pulling it back.

At 18-12, those chances would’ve been enhanced even further, and that should’ve been the case, but Ben Crooks fumbled the ball in trying to ground as the clock ticked into the last minute of the half. A big chance missed, but things would get worse before the hooter.

With exactly 16 seconds of the half remaining, Leeds managed to break up the other end and create some space for the experienced Richie Myler to ghost in under no challenge. Absolutely chaotic from KR and what should have been 18-12 at the break turned into 24-6 when Rhyse Martin converted from out wide.

From that point on, the feeling that both sides knew their fate was felt and some of the ‘bite’ was lost. A bolster crowd of 30,106 were in attendance at Headingley and the majority of those did enjoy some more success in the second half though, with Leeds scoring two more tries.

James Donaldson flopped onto the line for the first soon after the restart having powered his way to it after he was challenged but still managed to ground the ball as confirmed by a video referee decision.

A great finish from Handley in the corner with around 15 minutes remaining rounded things off for Agar’s side, with the winger more than making up for his earlier error. Martin, with a 100% success rate from the boot, successfully added 12 points with six kicks from six.

2000 Robins fans made the trip across Yorkshire and supported their team vocally right until the end, rewarded with the last try of the evening through Will Dagger who scooted over having found a rare gap in the Rhinos defence.

36-12 come the sound of the full-time hooter, and play-offs confirmed for both sides. Leeds will clearly be the happier of the two having taken the two points and fifth-place, but neither side will be satisfied just yet.

Two games stand between them and an opportunity to walk out at Old Trafford on October 9th in the Super League Grand Final.

Post-match, both head coaches reflected honestly on the game, the season so far and what is to come in the next few weeks:

Leeds Rhinos Head Coach Richard Agar was first to give his thoughts on a brilliant display against KR and the play-off fixture against Wigan Warriors.

“We’re really pleased with that performance tonight. We prepared really well in the week and executed what we wanted to a lot of the time. For big chunks of the game, we handled what KR have been good at all season really well.

“We wanted to finish in the top four, but I’ve never experienced a year like this. We’ve lost so many players to injury, not had a pre-season, had more suspensions, COVID cases and a congested fixture list at times compared to other teams. Overall, we’ve shown a lot of spirit and we will prepare well for the Wigan game and give it a real good crack.

“It [Wigan play-off fixture] will be a totally different style of game to what we experienced tonight. We have to think about our team selection because we do have some guys coming back. It’s going to be a tough game, it’s a play-off so I expect a real tight and intense contest.

“After a difficult year to navigate, we’ve hung in there and now we’re in with a shout, it’s all to play for.”

Hull KR Head Coach Tony Smith spoke about the defeat and about the season his side have had so far.

“We were unpicked tonight in the first half. The Rhinos were the better team and deserved winners, in the first half especially they had more energy than us.

“At one point tonight, we had nobody on the bench so I’m proud of the team’s effort to dig in for one another out on the pitch with some players putting in really big minutes. For me, that epitomised exactly what we’re about.

“We’ve got the best part of a week now to find some energy and throw our gloves up again to see what we can go and do in the play-offs. We’ve had a terrific season so far and we’re not done yet.”

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