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Superleague XVIII - Round 23
1st August 2013
Rhinos Sweat Out The Win
From the first kick-off the Rhinos looked to dominate and it took just four minutes before the opening score, at the hands of a surprise opening scorer. A burrow kick to the wing was pushed backwards by the flying Ryan Hall, straight into the hands of Jamie Peacock who shrugged off a tackler to spin over the line. Sinfield, wearing his commemorative jersey, kicked the goal and we'd got our account up and running.
The Broncos defence managed to hold us out for another ten, but on the quarter hour the Rhinos were awarded a penalty twenty from the Broncos line after a shoulder charge on Rob Burrow. Two plays in and ball went quickly through five pairs of hands before reaching Ben Jones-Bishop on the wing who grounded in the corner.
Leeds Opener
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The video referee checked the grounding but ruled correctly in BJB's favour and when Sinfield kicked the two brilliantly from the touchline we were 12-0 up seemingly cruising.
But the Broncos had a quick response when a minute later Leuluai spilled the ball in his own half and on the Broncos first real attack Luke Dorn found a gap to ground over the line. Soward kicked the extras and narrowed the margin to 12-6.
On twenty-seven the Rhinos re-established their twelve point lead after a great passing move which started in the centre of the field and eventually saw Alex Foster going over off a Ben Jones-Bishop pass. Sinfield again added the extras and we were back on course.
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We maintained the lead until the interval, and were good value for the margin, if not a little disappointed that is was so narrow. The Broncos seemed to have given their all and we were hoping to do our points difference some benefit in the second half.
Just two minutes after the re-start it was the Broncos who drew first blood as Sargison went over off a great short pass from Soward and the creator added the extras for 18-12, this was back a little too close for comfort.
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When the Rhinos lost Delaney (knee) and Foster (ribs) after hitting the padded upright with some force, arounf the fifty-minute mark there was increasing concern that we weren't putting the game to bed, but the Paul McShane came to the rescue.
On fifty-four he scampered over from dummy half after throwing an outrageous dummy and five minutes later he jinked past three defenders from ten metres out to grab his second. Sinfield converted both and the game was in the bag at 30-12 with twenty minutes to play.
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Game Winner
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On sixty-four a nice passing move saw Fisher cross for the home but it would be the last scoring action of the game as the heat finally told and the game slowed to it's conclusion.
This was a hard fought win over a Broncos side that was much improved from last weekend. The Rhinos played a good expansive game but the Broncos defence was excellent, restricting scoring opportunities. We simply did enough and thanks to a couple of moments of genius from McShane we grabbed the important two points which guarantee us a play-off position.
If that was the basement club, we need to be on our guard for our next outing, away at second-bottom Salford Reds. But the lads have got eight days to recouperate, lets hope that we use them wisely.
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Match Facts
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No.
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Player
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T
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G
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DG
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No.
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Player
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T
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G
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DG
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1
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Hardaker
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|
|
|
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1
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Dorn
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1
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|
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2
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Jones-Bishop
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1
|
|
|
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2
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Colbon
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|
|
|
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3
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Watkins
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|
|
|
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36
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Shaw
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|
|
|
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4
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Moon
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|
|
|
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19
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Sargison
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1
|
|
|
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5
|
Hall
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|
|
|
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16
|
Melling
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|
|
|
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26
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Sutcliffe
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|
|
|
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3
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O'Callaghan
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|
|
|
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7
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Burrow
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|
|
|
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33
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Soward
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3
|
|
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8
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Leuluai
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|
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20
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Cook
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13
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Sinfield
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5
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23
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Lee
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|
|
|
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10
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Peacock
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1
|
|
|
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10
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Bryant
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12
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Ablett
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|
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24
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McMeekan
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|
|
|
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18
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Clarkson
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|
|
|
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8
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Kaufusi
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|
|
|
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15
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Delaney
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|
|
|
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34
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Fairbank
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|
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|
|
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|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
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21
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Moore
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|
|
|
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26
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Fisher
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1
|
|
|
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9
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McShane
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2
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|
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14
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Wheeldon
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|
|
|
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30
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Foster
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1
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|
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18
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Krasniqi
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|
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17
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Kirke
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28
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Woodburn-Hall
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Kick Off:
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20:05
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Half-Time:
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18-06
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Referee:
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Tim Roby
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Crowd:
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2,337
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