Leeds Rhinos 20 Bradford Bulls 20: Smith's double enables Rhinos to thwart Bulls

Winger Smith was only re-signed on Wednesday after an ill-fated five-month spell with Wasps but scored twice to rescue Brian McClennan's men who had seemed destined for a fourth successive loss.

Rhinos were trailing 20-6 with just 14 minutes to go but Brett Delaney and fit-again captain Kevin Sinfield got them back in touch before Smith latched onto Danny McGuire's grubber to dive in at the corner at the climax.

Sinfield could not convert from wide out but both sides had a chance to steal the win with Bradford's Andy Lynch seeing his speculative drop-kick attempt full short before the outstanding Jamie Langley charged down Rob Burrow's effort for Leeds.

Bradford then rallied brilliantly in the final seconds to deny Jamie Jones-Buchanan's last-ditch desperate attempt to score.

Breathless Bradford did not know whether to laugh or cry at the end.

Leeds fielded their strongest side since the World Club Challenge more than a month ago with Sinfield returning for the first time following that loss but their Yorkshire rivals – with Lynch, Matt Orford and Brett Kearney outstanding – were the more impressive outfit for the majority of the encounter.

The signs were not good for Leeds when Chris Nero walked through paper-thin defence to get the Bulls' first try inside just three minutes.

Ian Kirke and Brett Delaney were the guilty parties as the Australian centre sauntered through their attempted tackles.

Orford tagged on the goal and the confident visitors extended their lead in the 11th minute through Dave Halley.

The full-back had been dropped for last week's win over Harlequins but returned on the wing at the expense of Rikki Sheriffe and showed smart finishing skills, taking Paul Sykes's overhead pass and stepping inside England's Ryan Hall.

Lynch's off-load had created the initial attacking opportunity and the relentless prop continually caused problems with his ability to get the ball out of the tackle, a tactic continued when fellow front-row Glenn Hall emerged off the bench.

Ailing Leeds did not help themselves and, even with their bolstered side, looked like a team low on confidence.

Ian Kirke, Brent Webb and Jones-Buchanan coughed up ball, Rob Burrow kicked out on the full all of which led to Orford putting Bradford 12-0 ahead when Webb failed to play the ball correctly.

When Hall then erred on the first tackle under a powerful hit from Steve Menzies, the visitors capitalised once more on 24 minutes.

Fittingly it was Menzies who eased over out wide but the veteran Australian – who produced plenty of clever distribution – was afforded far too much space and time.

Smith got Leeds back in it but even that came from a dubious refereeing call.

Bentham deemed Hall had hit the floor before off-loading on halfway although replays clearly showed the former Manly forward's pass was legitimate. From the penalty, Hall went close before McGuire's long pass put Smith charging in at the corner for the start of his dream return.

Sinfield's conversion made it 16-6 at the break but Leeds showed little sign of improving at the start of the second half.

Webb survived a real scare when he failed to deal with Orford's slide kick, video referee James Child deciding the fumbling Kiwi just managed to touch down behind his own line before the chasing Halley.

However, Bradford deservedly extended their lead when Leeds pressed Orford on the last tackle but only forced him into a pass to Nero who did brilliantly to juggle before fending off McGuire's lame tackle to arc over in the 53rd minute.

Remarkable the Bulls' defence then somehow denied Senior who was over the line and seemed destined to score only for a raft of defenders to charge him back.

Danny Buderus was sin-binned for a professional foul on Kearney just before the hour, holding down the outstanding Bulls full-back after he had made a spectacular 60m kick return.

Despite being down to 12 men, Sinfield and Webb finally combined to carve out a try for Delaney in the 66th minute and when Sykes limped off with an ankle injury, tiring Bradford came under immense pressure.

They finally cracked when – after Stuart Reardon spilled a kick – Sinfield sold an outrageous dummy and twirled around past youngster James Donaldson, converting with seven minutes remaining, and then came Smith's spectacular finish.

Leeds Rhinos: Webb; Smith, Delaney, Senior, Hall; McGuire, Burrow; Leuluai, Diskin, Bailey, Kirke, Jones-Buchanan, Sinfield. Substitutes: Lauitiiti, Burgess, Buderus, Ambler.

Bradford Bulls: Kearney; Halley, Platt, Nero, Reardon; Sykes, Orford; Lynch, L'Estrange, Scruton, Whitehead, Langley, Menzies. Substitutes: Hall, Godwin, Kopczak, Donaldson.

Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington)