Edgell scores four as ruthless Leeds thrash Hull FC

Betfred Super League

Leeds Rhinos (32) 68

Tries: Newman, Smith, Edgell 4, Bentley 2, Croft 2 Goals: Martin 13, Donaldson

Hull FC (0) 6

Tries: Barron Goals: Charles

Leeds youngster Alfie Edgell scored four tries as the Rhinos flattened hapless Hull FC at Headingley to boost their Super League play-off hopes.

The 20-year-old academy product, who had previously scored only once in his senior career, enjoyed a memorable night as Leeds amassed their biggest victory of the season.

Brodie Croft and James Bentley both went over twice, with Harry Newman and Cameron Smith also chalking up tries, while full-back Rhyse Martin celebrated his final home game for the club with a flawless display of kicking.

Martin, who joins Hull KR next season, converted nine Leeds tries and added four penalties – but passed up a 14th opportunity, allowing James Donaldson to mark his own Headingley farewell with the final kick of the night.

That completed Leeds' biggest Super League victory against Hull FC and kept them in the running for a top-six finish with two rounds of games remaining.

The Rhinos quickly established control and, although Paul Momirovski stumbled in pursuit of an inviting kick, Martin opened the scoring by slotting a routine penalty kick from in front of the posts.

That paved the way for Leeds to apply relentless pressure, smuggling a bouncing ball out for Croft to aim a pinpoint cross-field kick into the waiting hands of Newman, who dived across in the corner.

Croft and Mikolaj Oledzki combined to set up Smith for the next try, and wilting Hull conceded another almost immediately after the Rhinos fed the ball right across the pitch from a scrum and Edgell bundled his way over.

The Black and Whites were reduced to 12 men when second row Jed Cartwright’s late tackle earned him a spell in the sin-bin and the home side capitalised by stretching their advantage even further before half-time.

Bentley burst through from dummy half for his first try of the season before Lachlan Miller supplied the opening for Croft to scoot through Hull’s porous defence, with Martin’s fifth successful conversion making it 32-0.

Leeds Rhinos' Alfie Edgell scored four tries in his side's demolition of Hull FC

There was no let-up after the turnaround, with Edgell grabbing his second try in the left-hand corner two minutes into the second half and Martin nailing a 35-metre penalty following a high tackle on Sam Lisone.

Two more Edgell tries, set up by Croft and Miller respectively, sandwiched a brief moment of respite for Hull when Harvey Barron collected Jordan Lane’s grubber and Jack Charles added the extras.

The influential Croft collected his second try, sliding in after a break by Andy Ackers and Matt Frawley, and Cartwright’s miserable evening was completed when he received another yellow card for holding down Smith.

With two minutes left on the clock, there was still time for Bentley to double his evening’s tally and loose forward Donaldson, who is leaving the sport at the end of the season, took over kicking duties to wrap up a stirring Leeds display.

Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur told BBC Radio Leeds:

“It was a pretty professional performance, we showed a good level of composure and patience and built the game nicely – especially on the back of last week, where we lacked a little bit of discipline and patience.

“I was interested to see what would happen in the second half, whether we could stay composed and in control of the game and we did.

“I’m really pleased for the players, pleased for those guys who had their last home game, and pleased by the fact we stuck at it defensively as well.

“We get to enjoy our weekend now but we’ve got some work to do going into the next game.”

Hull FC interim coach Simon Grix told BBC Radio Humberside:

“I thought Leeds were really good tonight, but we were as bad as we’ve been. There’s no hiding places from those sort of results – everyone’s a part of it and everyone’s got to own it.

“It was one thing after another, the wheels fully came off and all of it was ugly. I keep going back to that lack of resilience but we’ve not been able to front up all year.

“Our attitude towards defence hasn’t been good enough for a large part of that game. We got what we deserved, we weren’t good enough and it shows there’s a lot of work to do to get to the right level.”

Leeds: Miller, Fusitu'a, Momirovski, Newman, Edgell, Croft, Frawley, Oledzki, Ackers, Sangare, McDonnell, Martin, Smith.

Interchanges: Lisone, Bentley, O'Connor, Donaldson.

Hull FC: Moy, Barron, Tuimavave, Briscoe, Martin, Charles, Walker, Ese'ese, Lane, Eseh, Sao, Cartwright, Aydin.

Interchanges: Fash, Ashworth, Gardiner, Balmforth, Laidlaw.

Sin-bin: Cartwright (28, 78).

Referee: Tom Grant.