Bradford Bulls 22 Leeds Rhinos 37: McGuire in five-try display as Bulls wilt in the heat

The England scrum-half’s support play was outstanding as he delivered the all-important finishing touches yesterday to help the struggling champions overcome Bradford Bulls at Magic Weekend.

The game was still in the balance until McGuire also provided the final pass for Carl Ablett’s 70th-minute try which Kevin Sinfield converted to leave the ailing champions 30-18 up.

That came soon after some tremendous resilience in defence thwarted a sustained period of Bradford pressure but McDermott was still clearly far from impressed with his side as they edged back up to seventh and nudged their West Yorkshire neighbours out of the play-off places.

“I felt it was ridiculous the amount of times we came up with soft decisions and soft errors in the first 20 odd minutes,” he said, after they had fallen 18-6 behind.

“We scrambled well in defence in the second half but we had to do that because of what we tried to do in the first which was just ridiculous.”

McGuire scored five tries for the second time in his Leeds career, having also done likewise against Widnes in 2004. But McDermott – who fears England ETS centre Kallum Watkins could be out for the season after he suffered another serious knee injury – questioned the 29-year-old’s overall control of his side’s direction.

“Some long-range individual brilliance probably got us the game rather than field position or the kicking or defence,” he said.

“Weirdly, Danny McGuire scored five tries so you’re going to say he’s played well.

“But I don’t think anyone grabbed hold of that game by the scruff of the neck.

“You’d have Maggsy in your team every week but he’s a half-back and is responsible on how we manage the game, which I thought was poor.”

McGuire had put them ahead inside three minutes after he latched onto Kylie Leuluai’s smart off-load but they failed to build any further pressure due to a catalogue of mistakes.

Bradford shrugged off the loss of Wales prop Craig Kopczak, who injured his ankle taking the first drive from the kick-off, and looked more than capable of breaking their Magic duck against the Headingley side.

Elliott Whitehead barged through lax defence from Matt Diskin’s quick tap penalty before Ben Jeffries scored again in the next set as he got on the outside of Jamie Jones-Buchanan to cruise through.

When Jamie Peacock failed to clear up one of many probing kicks by Luke Gale, ex-Rhinos hooker Diskin scrambled over and Gale added his third conversion.

Leeds’s response had a touch of fortune about it as McGuire hit Brent Webb’s clearly forward pass and swivelled out of Gale’s tackle but there was no denying the brilliance of his hat-trick on 31 minutes.

A darting Rob Burrow brushed off John Bateman from dummy-half before weaving and stepping through a cluttered midfield to sprint clear in trademark style, his long-time team-mate on his shoulder as ever.

That saw the game – played in sweltering conditions – level 18-18 at the interval but Bradford’s personnel problems were intensified in the second half.

Chev Walker, like the consistently unlucky Watkins, plagued by injury problems, departed nursing a sore rib just after he had forced his way back into the Bulls squad while Diskin ended up in hospital last night after badly dislocating his shoulder.

A robust Richard Moore charge set a dummying Sinfield surging into space for McGuire’s fourth on 47 minutes and he had another ruled out after spilling while stretching for the line. Then came that relentless pressure from Bradford but, for all their effort, they lacked some of Leeds’s guile close to the line and the champions continually absorbed.

Sinfield eventually defused Brett Kearney’s kick behind his own line and his swift 20m restart saw Ryan Hall break clear.

That resulted in Ablett’s try and, when Bradford’s restart sailed dead, Sinfield took the opportunity to slot a calming drop-goal.

He added his sixth conversion when McGuire completed his own haul, supporting Webb who had curled out of Gale’s attempted tackle. Elliott Kear finally crossed late on for Bradford but coach Mick Potter, who had seen his side defeat Leeds at Odsal on Good Friday, said: “We didn’t finish our sets off well.

“We lost a bit of shape in our middle because of the injuries we suffered and had to play people longer than we really wanted to.

“It was extreme conditions – really hot out there – but we need to be better and have a bit more resilience in our play.”

Leeds: Webb; Smith, Watkins, Hardaker, Hall; Sinfield, McGuire; Leuluai, Lunt, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Delaney. Substitutes: Hauraki, Burrow, Bailey, Moore.

Bradford: Kearney; Kear, Purtell, Lulia, Pryce; Jeffries, Gale; Hargreaves, Diskin, Kopczak, Bateman, Whitehead, Elima. Substitutes: L’Estrange, Manuokafua, Burgess, Walker.

Referee: T Alibert (France).