Super League: Hull FC 12-22 Leeds Rhinos - Visitors boost play-off hopes

Brad Dwyer was a game-changer for Leeds, coming off the bench to score and lift the Rhinos attack

Leeds Rhinos' second-half fightback gave their Super League play-off hopes a lift with victory against Hull FC.

The hosts laid siege at times in the first-half but only posted Adam Swift's try and Marc Sneyd's goal, while Rhyse Martin kicked two Leeds goals.

After almost 20 minutes of the second half without points, Brad Dwyer took advantage of Leeds pressure to score.

Richie Myler and Cameron Smith tries made sure of Leeds' victory with Carlos Tuimavave's late score a consolation.

At times this game threatened to bubble over with referee Liam Moore kept busy by the constant spats between players - with Myler and Josh Reynolds both sin-binned.

Much of the pre-match chat surrounded Luke Gale following the decision to stand him down as Leeds captain, but the England international was slightly subdued, as Myler and Dwyer stole the show along with props Mikolaj Oledzki and newly-appointed skipper Matt Prior.

Brett Hodgson's Hull put Leeds under a considerable amount of pressure in the opening 40, forcing drop-outs and errors, but were unable to break down the Rhinos with their lateral movement in good ball.

When they did score, through Swift out wide, it was a beautifully constructed move featuring a delicious tip-on by Reynolds to create the four-pointer.

Forwards such as Chris Satae and Ligi Sao continually backpedalled the Rhinos, but otherwise without an end product, the fatigue levels in the second-half and the introduction of Dwyer off the bench turned the game.

Dwyer's energy brought him a score, darting in the wake of a tired defensive line, and Myler hit a hard line between two big boppers to cross from Kruise Leeming's short ball.

Smith's score gave the visitors daylight and lifted Richard Agar's side back into the top four reckoning, despite an excellent solo burst down the right by Tuimavave to give Hull late cheer.

This defeat is a minor blow conversely for Hull's play-off hopes, who showed just how effective they can be in phases but lacked some of the creativity from the absent Jake Connor.

Hull boss Brett Hodgson told BBC Radio Humberside:

"The first half we asked plenty of questions but probably played a bit too laterally, we had to be more direct. We didn't have a really good kick at the end of a set and gave away a seven-tackle set and pressure.

"The first 10 minutes of the second half they had a period where they had about five or six sets in a row on our try-line, Bureta Faraimo came up with a couple of good reads but we gave away a few 'six agains' and that left us without any energy when they came out and brought [Brad] Dwyer on. He hurt us on a couple of occasions.

"That's fatigue, we've got to be stronger to get through those periods but it's fine margins in this game and we're not far away. We were good in parts but we need to learn from those periods - when it gets tough be more resilient and defend our try-line."

Leeds head coach Richard Agar:

"It was a game of two halves for us, in the first half we didn't play controlled enough and made too many mistakes, gave away too many penalties, and it left us having to defend our own line for long periods.

"We had to come out of yardage in a difficult way, against a team that played a really good, controlled and powerful kick-chase and they made it hard for us. We defended pretty well.

"We needed to flip that around, and we talked about getting in the grind. We were confident in a tight game we'd find enough opportunities to score. We thought we'd have to find other ways to get over the line and the injection of Brad Dwyer really helped us do that. The way we turned it around was really good from our guys."

Hull: Wynne, Swift, Tuimavave, Fonua, Faraimo; Reynolds, Sneyd; Sao, Houghton, Satae, Lane, Ma'u, Cator.

Interchanges: Bowden, Fash, Johnstone, Scott.

Leeds: Myler; Handley, Newman, Hurrell, T. Briscoe; McLelland, Gale, Tetevano, Martin, Mellor, Prior, Leeming, Oledzki.

Interchanges: Dwyer, Vuniyayawa, Smith, Donaldson.

Referee: Liam Moore.

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