Sinfield kicks late Leeds winner to leave Sandercock frustrated

Leeds looked dead and buried at half-time, trailing 18-6, but three tries in seven minutes at the start of the second half put the Rhinos in the driving seat as they put their defeat to Wakefield behind them.

Rovers will see this as an opportunity lost after giving the champions a run for their money.

The hosts set the tone for an entertaining game right from the opening kick-off with a high-tempo opening.

Graeme Horne’s fifth-minute try came on the back of a great break from young full-back Louis Sheriff. Michael Dobson’s touchline conversion gave the hosts a 6-0 lead.

It was the worst possible start for the defending champions who were coming off a 38-18 defeat at Wakefield six days earlier, but they got back on level terms five minutes later as they opened the Rovers defence up with a mix of the future and the past. Highly-regarded Stevie Ward danced past Sheriff before offloading to the supporting veteran Danny McGuire to touch down close to the posts. Sinfield’s conversion levelled the scores.

The fixture threatened to boil over with Brett Delaney and Dobson being put on report after Delaney up-ended Dave Petersen, bringing a reaction from Dobson.

Hull KR were awarded the penalty, the first of two in quick succession which gave Rovers the perfect position to launch another attack. Josh Hodgson scored to move level with Kris Welham in the try-scoring charts and Dobson added the extras for a 12-6 lead.

Dobson took the lead out to 12 points with a virtuoso try in the 33rd minute. From 40 metres out, he broke through a tackle to score leaving Delaney, Ryan Bailey, Ward and Zak Hardaker in his wake and added the extras with the boot.

Leeds looked stung but responded well in the second half, and within 10 minutes had gone from 12 points down to four in front with three quickfire tries.

Sinfield and Hall, who combined to deadly effect against Wakefield, were at it again five minutes after the interval as a long over-the-top pass from Sinfield was grounded with ease by Hall. Sinfield added the extras but he was off-target with his next conversion which seemed easier after McGuire crossed following Kallum Watkins’ pass.

Leeds’s third try in seven minutes came courtesy of Carl Ablett as Rovers struggled to contain their rampant opponents.

After 15 minutes of Leeds dominance, Rovers finally made it into Rhinos territory and more importantly they made it count.

Rovers built up pressure by forcing a goal-line drop-out and drew level through Sheriff following Scott Murrell’s clever reverse kick, before Dobson’s fourth goal from four edged the Robins in front.

With 18 minutes left to play, the points were there for the taking.

Dobson’s error close to the Leeds line let the Rhinos off the hook, and Sinfield levelled the scores at 24-24 after Murrell was penalised for a ball steal.

Now it was down to a drop-goal lottery and Sinfield, as he has done so often in his career, dropped the goal to seal a narrow win for the Rhinos with eight minutes to go.

The closest Rovers got to scoring was when Scott Taylor got to the line but knocked on.

Coach Brian McDermott accepted his side were second best in the opening 40 minutes of today’s Stobart Super League fixture.

He said: “We weren’t good enough in the first half.

“Hull KR played really well and defended their line, whereas we didn’t.

“We weren’t miles off, but we weren’t good enough.

“We changed some things at half-time and the change of attitude was the main thing.

“It was more from the players at half-time as they took charge of things.

“Hull KR didn’t go away after we scored the three tries in seven minutes.

“They still had a say in the game and credit to them.”

McDermott was grateful his side were able to turn things round but wished they didn’t have to dig deep to win a close game.

“I hoped we did that from the start and I’m hesitant to be too happy with that win,” he said.

“The second half encouraged me but we should have done that in the first half.

“We just missed too many tackles on our goal line, plain and simple. There’s nothing technical in that.”

Rovers were looking to make it back-to-back wins after their success at Widnes a week earlier.

However, their coach Craig Sandercock was disappointed his side were unable to defeat the defending champions despite holding a 12-point lead at the break.

“We thought we were in with a good shot against a full-strength Leeds side,” Sandercock said.

“To come so close and yet so far is very disappointing.

“Leeds don’t have the myriad of international players for nothing.

“They are a class side and if you give them a sniff, they will take it,” he said.

“Unfortunately we gave away a penalty on tackle five and then we didn’t touch the ball for the next 15 minutes.

“It was a tough initiation but Leeds got the jump on us at the start of the second half.

“I’m disappointed in the overall performance of the referee and we’ll leave it at that.”

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Hull K R: Sheriff, Latus, Horne, Salter, D. Hodgson, Murrell, Dobson, Clinton, J. Hodgson, O’Hara, Lovegrove, Galea, Peterson. Substitutes: Withers, Taylor, Paea, Griffin.

Leeds: Hardaker, Jones-Bishop, Watkins, Ablett, Hall, Sinfield, McGuire, Leuluai, Burrow, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ward, Delaney. Substitutes: Bailey, Clarkson, Griffin, Lunt.

Referee: T Roby (RFL).