Rampant Rhinos take advantage of Hull’s second-half surrender
SIX-MATCH WINNING HOME RUN ENDS IN EMBARRASSING LOSS
Hull FC only had themselves to blame in what is their fourth consecutive Super League defeat. A sequence of errors proved their undoing as Leeds ran out 62-16 winners at the MKM Stadium, with the comparisons to last season starting to become a haunting reality.
Ending a run of six straight home wins, Hull were their own worst enemies yet again as their woeful completion rate gave Leeds far too much cheap ball.
The Rhinos took full advantage of the territory given, not to mention some some soft Hull defence to run away with the game, with Brett Hodgson’s side now hanging onto their play-off place.
A lot has been made of Hull’s home form this season but this was easily their worst performance of the year to date.
Obviously the injuries are biting hard right now, and they are a factor, but they don’t excuse the errors again, which seemed to come at the worst possible times and always after Hull gave themselves a shot of getting back into the game.
In truth, it was a catalogue of errors and the way Hull succumbed to their heaviest defeat under the Hodgson reign was concerning.
There was a lot of pride lost and the manner of some of Leeds’ tries didn’t sit well with the home crowd, who made their feelings known after a woeful display.
Leeds pinned Hull in their own half from the word go, and off the back of their first set-restart, they made the territory count.
On the last tackle, Kruise Leeming put Mikolaj Oledzki under the sticks for what, from a Hull point of view at least, was a soft try.
Errors again followed, and Leeds added a second score soon after as they crisply worked the ball wide for Ash Handley to finish.
The Rhinos were clearly on top at this point, and it was an atrocious floating pass from marquee halfback Aidan Sezer that got Hull back into it.
Darnell Mcintosh accepted the gift, and ran 80 or so metres to get Hull on the board, and all despite a valiant chase from Handley.
The Black and Whites then went back-to-back.
A slick short side play released Connor Wynne, who expertly kicked inside for Danny Houghton to pick up and score for a brilliant try.
At this point, Hull were back into the contest but through attention to detail and lapses in concentration, the errors undid them again.
Coughing up possession in their own half, Leeds punished them once more, with the Rhinos working the ball to their left edge for Handley to score his second.
Then they hit Hull again straight after, with Richie Myler breaking the line to send the supporting Leeming
over for Leeds’ fourth effort despite the best attention of Wynne.
The home crowd didn’t like it, but the try was awarded and Hull had what seemed a mountain to climb again as they approached half-time.
The next score was obviously vital, and it went to Hull.
Starting the second half the stronger, they eventually made their pressure count with Chris Satae, who was strong throughout, breaking the line to score.
But in the next set after points, Hull failed to complete and it proved vital, with Leeming adding his second try.
Soon after, Myler added a sixth try and that was pretty much game over.
Leeds started to toy with Hull after that, scoring five more tries to completely and utterly embarrass Hull on home turf.
Handley got three more taking to his afternoon total to five, with David Fusitu’a and Liam Sutcliffe also getting themselves over in the Rhinos rout.
Key Moment
The set after Satae’s try. Hull failed to complete and once Leeds scored again soon after it was curtains.
Good day for
Easy to say absolutely nobody, but Chris Satae stood up.
The big fella was Hull’s biggest threat carrying the ball. Ran hard all game and scored a deserved try.
Bad day for
Hull FC. Castleford’s win on Friday put them into sixth position and a fourth consecutive defeat sees them hanging onto a play-off spot.
Bigger Picture
This was a dreadful result for Hull. There is no sugar-coating it. It was humiliating and the sort of defensive collapse that opened up some old wounds.