Two sent off as leaders Hull KR fight back to beat Leeds

Hull KR's Jack Broadbent scores his second try against Leeds Rhinos

Betfred Super League, Headingley

Leeds (6) 14

Tries: Handley, Lumb Goals: Miller 3

Hull KR (6) 20

Tries: Broadbent 2, Batchelor, Lewis Goals: Mourgue 2

Mikey Lewis scored the winning to try to complete Hull KR's sensational comeback to beat Leeds Rhinos at Headingley.

In a tense first half Jack Broadbent opened the scoring for the Super League leaders before Ash Handley replied for the hosts.

Riley Lumb's try pushed the Rhinos ahead before Sauaso Sue was sent off for the Robins with 22 minutes remaining.

Broadbent scored his second try for the visitors and when Handley was also sent off for Leeds, Rovers took control and Batchelor's try levelled the game before Lewis won it.

With an hour gone, 14-6 down and Sue sent off, Rovers' second defeat of the season felt inevitable, but they rallied remarkably to move four points clear at the top with an eighth win of the campaign.

Despite an excellent performance, Leeds fell to their sixth straight defeat to the Robins and stay sixth in the table.

It was a superb game but will generate more conversation about officiating after two reds and one yellow card.

Early in the game, Leeds' Jack Sinfield was sin-binned for making contact to the head of Oliver Gildart, and while Jake Connor was also off the field for medical treatment, Rovers struck against 11 men through Broadbent after Peta Hiku's break.

But Handley got on the end of Connor's grubber to score in the left corner and the teams exchanged penalties to leave the game 6-6 at half-time.

Leeds began the second half brighter and Connor's tip-on pass freed Handley down the left and he twice exchanged passes with Lumb to send the winger into the corner for a superb try.

Then came the first of the red cards as Sue made direct contact to the head of Sam Lisone with his shoulder. Even though Lisone was dropping his height from the initial tackle, the referee saw no mitigation because Sue did not attempt to wrap his arm.

Lachlan Miller kicked the resulting penalty from 35 metres to move Leeds further in front.

But Jai Whitbread's break led to Broadbent's second try to bring the score back to 14-10, before the Rhinos were also reduced to 12 men with eight minutes remaining for Handley's high tackle, also having not attempted to wrap his arm.

The penalty gave Rovers field position and they worked the play from left to right to send Batchelor, a back rower installed as a makeshift wing, into the right corner.

And with four minutes left, Lewis spotted space on the short side, floated a pass wide to free Broadbent up the left wing and his return ball sent Lewis in for a dramatic winning try.

Leeds head coach Brad Arthur told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I'm extremely proud of that performance and the resilience and how we got ourselves into a good strong position.

"But we need to learn how we close games out. We did it against Warrington as well.

"We're just not quite at that level yet, and that's the bit we need to be a real threat in the competition."

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters told BBC Radio Humberside:

"We knew Leeds were going to be a tough, physical team and they dominated a lot of that game.

"When we went down to 12 men we found a way to connect because our attack was off for large parts of that game.

"I know the fight that's in our team but I did think, 'How are we going to get those points?' But we kept playing and came up with a big play at the end."

Leeds: Miller, Hall, Newman, Handley, Lumb, Connor, Sinfield, Jenkins, O'Connor, Oledzki, McDonnell, Gannon, Palasia.

Interchanges: Holroyd, Lisone, Bentley, Watkins.

Sin-bin: Sinfield (5).

Sent off: Handley (72).

Hull KR: Mourgue, Hiku, Batchelor, Gildart, Broadbent, Lewis, May, Sue, Litten, Waerea-Hargreaves, Hadley, Tanginoa, Minchella.

Interchanges: Luckley, Whitbread, Brown, Leyland.

Sent off: Sue (58).

Referee: Chris Kendall.