Leeds Rhinos brought Hull down to earth following their Wembley triumph with a 38-26 victory that clinched a Betfred Super League top-four finish and almost certainly a home semi-final.
Second place Leeds go five points clear of Hull#SLLeeHul #Super8s pic.twitter.com/hDkOdCflJO
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) August 31, 2017
Despite a five-day turnaround, 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 the second-placed Rhinos with three rounds left but could still set up another trip to Leeds with a chance to earn a place at Old Trafford.
Leeds Rhinos, you just booked your semi-finals spot ðŸ‘ðŸ‘👠pic.twitter.com/8R1AyyRdAK
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) August 31, 2017
Leeds suffered a blow before kick-off when stand-off Joel Moon injured his groin. His replacement Rob Burrow made his mark after only six minutes by scoring the first try, before additions from Brad Singleton, Liam Sutcliffe, Mitch Garbutt, Adam Cuthbertson and Matt Parcell as Kallum Watkins kicked over seven goals.
Steve Michaels, Scott Taylor, Danny Washbrook and Josh Bowden crossed over for a try apiece in reply with Marc Sneyd adding the extras.
Leeds coach Brian McDermott said his victorious team were "terrible" while Hull boss Lee Radford was proud of his players despite the loss.
McDermott said: "I'm not pleased at all. I thought it was awful. We were distracted, too easily put off our game. Hull were very disruptive and I don't blame them four days after Wembley but I thought we were terrible, we were pretty soft defensively.
"We had some dopey moments and were achingly slow defensively but we won and we can give ourselves a shake and a dress-down, get ready for a far better performance next week."
Who was your Rhinos Man of the Match tonight against Hull FC?
— Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) August 31, 2017
Radford said: "I've just given them a big rap. To back up on a Thursday what they did on Saturday in terms of effort took me by surprise a little bit.
"I fully anticipated that we would blow out towards the latter stages and I would have accepted that but they didn't and that's a real credit to the team. It showed that we're not here to fall away this year, we're going to be bang at it."
