Harlequins (8) 14 Tries: Melling, Howell, Randall Goals: Orr
Leeds (20) 48 Tries: Sinfield, McGuire, Jones-Buchanan, Donald, Webb, Buderus, Smith, Hall Goals: Sinfield 8
 Leeds' Jamie Peacock gets to grips with Jon Wells of Harlequins |
Leeds overcame a slow start to run in eight tries and claim a comfortable win over Harlequins. Chris Melling's early try rocked the Rhinos but led by Jamie Peacock, they regained their composure with Kevin Sinfield getting them back into it. Danny McGuire and Jamie Jones-Buchanan also crossed before the interval as the Super League champions took control. They dominated after that with Scott Donald, Brent Webb, Danny Buderus, Lee Smith and Ryan Hall all scoring. The previously in-form home side had started strongly with Danny Orr setting up Melling to go over in the corner but once Sinfield got onto the end of McGuire's kick to touch down and McGuire got onto the end of a break by Peacock and Webb, the Rhinos looked dangerous. Quins clawed themselves back into the contest when Orr's towering kick was misjudged by Donald and David Howell profited but Rob Burrow set up Jones-Buchanan shortly before the break and Sinfield converted and added a penalty on half-time. But an error by Will Sharp early in the second half which gifted possession to the Rhinos and led to Donald's try ended any hopes of a revival and the Rhinos ran riot.
Harlequins coach Brian McDermott "We have not been touched up like that for some time. "We have been riding high lately and we will need to learn the lessons from this. "This result really gives us a slap in the face and tells the players that perhaps they are not as good as they think they are, and it is up to us to respond." Leeds coach Brian McClennan "I'm happy with the win, but I'm not totally happy with the performance. I thought we were very slow out of the blocks, and we were very hesitant in the opening quarter. "You have to create your own tempo in this game and we struggled to get going, but everything eventually clicked. "We're not kidding ourselves - this was not a flash performance by any means. But the boys were really keyed up for this - we knew how important this game was for us and we got the result we needed."
Harlequins: Wells, Melling, Gafa, Howell, Sharp, Orr, Gale, Temata, Randall, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Williamson, Clubb, Golden. Replacements: Heckenberg, Ward, Mbu, Gardner. Leeds: Webb, Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Peacock, Ablett, Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield. Replacements: Lauitiiti, Burgess, Worrall, Watkins. Referee: I Smith (Oldham)
|
Bookmark with:
What are these?