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Leeds Rhinos 46 Hull FC 16: Senior marks his milestone in impressive style
KEITH SENIOR rolled back the years with a vintage performance to celebrate his 300th appearance for Leeds Rhinos with two splendid tries as the engage Super League champions romped to their biggest win of the season.
The 33-year-old scored a try in each half, set up another for his winger Ryan Hall and went within a whisker of a famous hat-trick on a deeply disappointing night for Hull.
Senior, who last week agreed a new contract that will keep him at Leeds until the end of next season, marked his milestone in some style as the Rhinos made light of the absence of Rob Burrow and the early loss of former Australia Test hooker Danny Buderus with a back injury.
Hull gave as good as they got in the early exchanges but were ultimately no match for the home side who took full advantage of their rivals' propensity to hit the self-destruct button.
Leeds struck what proved to be a decisive blow in the closing seconds of the opening half by scoring their fourth try to reach the interval with a commanding 22-10 lead.
With just seconds remaining the Rhinos moved the ball to the right where Carl Ablett raced on to a pass at speed and brushed aside a weak challenge from Chris Thorman to charge over as the hooter sounded. The try offered instant relief for Ablett whose error three minutes earlier 30 metres from his own posts had gifted Hull the position from which Richard Horne stabbed through a tantalising kick that brought a fine try for Kirk Yeaman, who skilfully collected the ball and dived in.
Danny Tickle could not add the goal but Hull were just six points adrift, a promising situation which faded when Ablett capitalised on the defensive weakness of Thorman, who did not re-appear for the second half.
The scrum-half had been a key figure in Hull's five-match winning start to the season but has lost his touch in recent months and endured a nightmare first 40 minutes.
Thorman was easily handed off by Scott Donald as the winger made a 40-metre break on 22 minutes and failed to deal with a high crossfield kick to the posts that brought a try for Brent Webb with five minutes of the half remaining.
The former Huddersfield captain was not exclusively culpable, however, for too many of his team-mates seemed all too eager to undermine some promising passages of play with poor decision making.
There had been little between the two sides for much of the first half hour and Hull actually led at the end of the opening quarter with a converted try by Richard Whiting, who rose high above Ryan Hall to collect a kick by Lee Radford and plunge over.
The score came after the deadlock had been broken by the first of two tries by Lee Smith who cut through to the line past the helpless Yeaman and Gareth Raynor after taking a long pass from Kevin Sinfield.
Leeds's captain could not add the goal but made no mistake with the conversion to a 23rd-minute try from Senior, who evaded Whiting to score after good play by Matt Diskin and Danny McGuire.
Senior almost grabbed another just a few minutes later when Motu Tony, making a hesitant return to action after almost a year out with a knee injury, fumbled a kick by Sinfield.
As the ball ran loose Senior pinned back his ears and charged through but could not ground the ball under pressure from Whiting.
After conceding two more tries to Webb and Ablett before the break Hull desperately needed to make a strong start following the resumption but things quickly went from bad to worse as Leeds ran them ragged.
The visitors did themselves few favours, however, and paved the way for Leeds to tighten their grip after forcing a 42nd minute drop-out which was duly knocked on by Sam Moa. From the resultant scrum a short pass by Sinfield put Smith through a gap on halfway and away for his second try.
Leeds extended their lead with another long-range try from a scrum, Ryan Hall racing 60 metres from a pass by Senior who then added his second by breezing through a huge gap in a weary defensive line.
That try came after Richard Horne had fumbled the restart following a try by Radford, a chain of events which just about summed up Hull's night.
Their misery was completed in the last minute when Sinfield stole the ball from Jamie Thackray 40 metres out and galloped away for a try before landing his seventh goal for a personal haul of 18 points.
Leeds Rhinos: Webb; Donald, Smith, Senior, Hall; Sinfield, McGuire; Leuluai, Buderus, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Kirke, Ablett. Substitutes: Bailey, Lauitiiti, Diskin, Burgess.
Hull FC: Tony; Calderwood, Whiting, Yeaman, Raynor; R Horne, Thorman; Dowes, Berrigan, Thackray, Burnett, Tickle, Radford. Substitutes: King, Houghton, Lee, Moa.
Referee: T Alibert (France).
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Friday 10 February 2012
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