Superleague XVII - Round 23
5th August 2012

Dropgoaltastic
It seemed that Leeds were on the back foot from the kick-off, but never that easy to tell where the play actually is from the Southern Terrace at Craven Park. After repelling the first attack but making little ground in attack, the Rhinos conceeded a daft penalty for offside and KR took full advantage as they spun the ball wide left on the last tackle and Horne spun over for the opener. Dobson goaled and we'd had the early shock.
On ten we levelled the scores, thanks to our own penalties from the enigmatic (read: he seems to make us the rules as he goes along) Mr Roby. We worked the ball down the centre and Stevie Ward stepped out of two tackles before offloading the Danny McGuire to score next to the sticks. Sir Kev kicked the two for 6-6.
The rest of the half would be one-way traffic, all for the Robins.
On sixteen the whistle of Roby gave the home side two quick penalties, both for foul play of some description (read: regrets not taking crane and binoculars). Two tackles from the second penalty and Josh Hodgson went over next to the sticks making the Dobson conversion a given.
 Influential
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On the half-hour it looked like substitute Taylor had a walk-in under the sticks but he appeared to drop the ball under no pressure whatsoever. The 500+ in the Southern Terrace, now under umbrellas and Kagools, breathed a collective sigh of relief.
The relief only lasted three minutes before a brilliant solo try by Dobson, stepping past three attempted tackles before scoring under the sticks, was just reward for KR dominance. He converted his own and despite the Rhinos repelling further attacks in the first half we had a lot of thinking to do at half time, and a lot of work to do to get back into the game.
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The game would turn in a seven minute second half spell, the only period in the game where we played like World Champions.
We'd dominated the early stages of the second half and then on forty-five a long ball from Ablett went straight into the hands of Hall who had just to walk two metres and touch down, without a KR defender laying a hand on him. Sinfield kicked brilliantly from the touchline despite the best efforts of the East Stand to put him off.
Two minutes later and great breaks down the right wing by Ben Jones-Bishop and then Watkins found McGuire in support to cross for his second. The skipper missedthe conversion but we were at 16-18 and right back in it.
On fifty-two a Sinfield kick was helped into touch by Sheriff and from the resulting scrum we used four tackles, a generous Roby penalty, and then Ablett spun over the line to edge us into the lead.
Sinfield slotted over the extras for 22-18 and it looked like there could only be one winner. We were totally dominant, and then we took our foot off the gas again.
On the hour mark, kept on our line by good KR pressure, we finally allowed Dobson to get in a grubber which saw Sheriff react first and collect the ball to score under the sticks. Dobson added the goal and edge his side into a slender 22-24 lead.
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 Crucial try
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But the Rhinos didn't panic and Sinfield took control.
With eight minutes left Peacock had the ball stolen on the KR forty metre line and Sinfield opted to kick the penalty, straight between the sticks. This despite a shocking attempt to put him off by KR as a water bottle was thrown through his line of vision as he ran in. We were level with the score at 24-24. It was still all to play for and the game could have gone either way.
With six minutes left the Rhinos worked to the line well and as Leuluai went for the line, Sinfield dropped back and when the offload was fed back to him he slotted over the one-pointer from fifteen metres to send the travelling fans crazy.
The Rhinos then managed to defend the remainng six minutes, which seemed like an eternity, and had a couple of scares; one where BJB scooped a kick straight back into Hull KR hands; and, a second when a Dobson kick seemed to find him impeeded as he chased through, but which Mr Roby thought was fair.
In the end we did 'just enough' and scored that all important one point more than the opposition to seal the two points and possibly secure fifth spot in Superleague XVII. KR, and their very disgruntled supporters, are right back in the dog-fight for a play-off spot and at the moment they look likely to be coming to Headingley for the first play-off round in September.
Some big performances from Sinfield, McGuire, Peacock and Hardaker and some uncharacteristic errors from the likes of BJB and Watkins.
All-in-all a decent afternoon on the east coast, but hopefully we won't cut it as close against Widnes on Friday night.
Please vote for your Man-of-the-Match in the front page poll.
Match Facts
No.
|
Player
|
T
|
G
|
DG
|
|
No.
|
Player
|
T
|
G
|
DG
|
4
|
Hardaker
|
|
|
|
|
27
|
Sheriff
|
1
|
|
|
2
|
Jones-Bishop
|
|
|
|
|
21
|
Latus
|
|
|
|
3
|
Watkins
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
Horne
|
1
|
|
|
12
|
Ablett
|
1
|
|
|
|
29
|
Salter
|
|
|
|
5
|
Hall
|
1
|
|
|
|
5
|
Hodgson, D.
|
|
|
|
13
|
Sinfield
|
|
4
|
1
|
|
19
|
Murrell
|
|
|
|
6
|
McGuire
|
2
|
|
|
|
7
|
Dobson
|
1
|
4
|
|
10
|
Peacock
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
Clinton
|
|
|
|
7
|
Burrow
|
|
|
|
|
9
|
Hodgson, J.
|
1
|
|
|
8
|
Leuluai
|
|
|
|
|
17
|
O'Hara
|
|
|
|
25
|
Ward
|
|
|
|
|
13
|
Lovegrove
|
|
|
|
11
|
Jones-Buchanan
|
|
|
|
|
12
|
Galea
|
|
|
|
15
|
Delaney
|
|
|
|
|
28
|
Peterson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
31
|
Lunt
|
|
|
|
|
14
|
Withers
|
|
|
|
16
|
Bailey
|
|
|
|
|
10
|
Taylor
|
|
|
|
20
|
Griffin
|
|
|
|
|
23
|
Paea
|
|
|
|
18
|
Clarkson
|
|
|
|
|
26
|
Griffin
|
|
|
|
Kick Off:
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15:00
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Half-Time:
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6-18
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Referee:
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Tim Roby
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Crowd:
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8,379
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