Leeds Rhinos 38 Hull FC 26: Stand-in Rob Burrow steps in to lead Rhinos to semi-finals

Despite a five-day turnaround and the absence of four members of their Challenge Cup-winning team, the Airlie Birds showed few signs of the traditional Wembley hangover, but their valiant effort was not enough to prevent a 12th successive defeat at Headingley.

Lee Radford’s men are now five points behind second-placed Rhinos with three rounds left of the Super 8s, but could still set up another trip to Leeds with a chance to earn a place at Old Trafford.

Leeds suffered a blow before kick-off when stand-off Joel Moon, who has proved a revelation this year since his switch from centre, injured his groin in the warm-up, but they had the luxury of having the experienced Rob Burrow on hand to step into the side.

Burrow delivered a man-of-the-match performance, making his mark after only six minutes by scoring the first try, following up a fortuitous offload from former Hull winger Tom Briscoe, who was the first to reach Burrow’s high kick.

Kallum Watkins kicked the first of his seven goals to put his side into a 6-0 lead, but it was level seven minutes later when Hull’s two-try Wembley hero Mahe Fonua, switched inside to centre in the absence of Josh Griffin, was put through a gap in Leeds’s defence by Albert Kelly and winger Steve Michaels was in support to touch down.

Marc Sneyd, fresh from his Lance Todd Trophy-winning heroics, added the conversion with the 500th goal of his career, and prop forwards Brad Singleton (Leeds) and Scott Taylor (Hull) traded short-range tries that highlighted the defensive deficiencies of both sides to keep the scores level by the quarter mark.

Perhaps the telling moment came on 25 minutes when Hull captain Gareth Ellis, the former Leeds forward, was sin-binned for what referee James Child deemed was a dangerous tackle on Leeds loose forward Stevie Ward.

The Rhinos took advantage of the extra man with Burrow getting centre Liam Sutcliffe racing through a hole in the visitors’ defence and, although Sneyd wasted precious minutes by kicking a 40m penalty, Hull conceded another try within a minute of their captain’s return to the field.

The Airlie Birds’ defence was once more caught napping when prop Mitch Garbutt took a pass from impressive hooker Matt Parcell to crash over four minutes before half-time, and Leeds led 24-14.

Hull lost winger Fetuli Talanoa with an arm injury just before the break, but they started the second half brightly and cut the deficit within five minutes when substitute Danny Washbrook took a suspiciously-forward looking pass from Kelly to score their third try.

Leeds restored their 10-point advantage when prop Adam Cuthbertson supported a half-break by 18-year-old full-back Jack Walker and romped over from 20m despite Danny Houghton’s trademark last-ditch tackle.

The home side tightened their grip with the aid of two penalties from Watkins and, although prop Josh Bowden kept Hull’s hopes alive when taking Sneyd’s pass to cross for his side’s fourth try, Leeds had the final say when Parcell dived onto Danny McGuire’s kick for a sixth try.

Leeds’s head coach Brian McDermott was far from happy despite the win.

“I thought it (Rhinos’ performance) was awful,” said McDermott, who called for a crackdown on disruptive tactics around the ruck.

“We were too easily distracted and put off our game.

“Hull were very disruptive and I don’t blame them, five days after Wembley, but we were terrible –especially defensively.

“We were pretty soft defensively.

“We had some dopey moments and we were achingly slow defensively at times.

“But we won and we can dust ourselves off and get ready for a far better performance next week.

“We are not guaranteed second place, but we are very close.”

Leeds Rhinos: Walker, Briscoe, Watkins, L Sutcliffe, Hall, Burrow, McGuire, Cuthbertson, Parcell, Singleton, Ward, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett. Substitutes: Mullally, Garbutt, Delaney, Keinhorst.

Hull FC: Shaul, Michaels, Fonua, Tuimavave, Talanoa, Kelly, Sneyd, Taylor, Houghton, Bowden, Turgut, Manu, Ellis. Substitutes: Thompson, Fash, Connor, Washbrook.

Referee: James Child (RFL).