Leeds produce thrilling comeback to beat Hull FC

Betfred Super League

Leeds (4) 18

Tries: McDonnell, Holroyd, Lumb, Hall Goal: Miller

Hull FC (10) 16

Tries: Martin, Eseh, Barron Goals: Sezer 2

Ryan Hall's try with 36 seconds remaining completed a thrilling Leeds comeback from 16-4 behind as the Rhinos beat Hull FC and secured a fourth victory in five matches to move fourth in Super League.

Helped by occasional touches of fortune, Hull had the better of a tight first half, taking the lead through Lewis Martin's try.

Sam Eseh and Harvey Barron scored either side of James McDonnell's reply for Leeds but tries by Tom Holroyd and Riley Lumb shifted the momentum before 37-year-old Hall had the decisive say.

The Black and Whites remain sixth in the table, three points behind the Rhinos.

Jordan Rapana suffered a concerning early injury on his 250th career appearance, with both team doctors involved as the Hull back was taken off on a stretcher following an attempted challenge on Jake Connor.

The visitors made the breakthrough when Martin profited from clever work by Will Pryce, deceiving a clutch of players to allow himself to feed the winger following a scrum.

Aidan Sezer could not convert from out wide but the captain made no mistake after Hull doubled their lead through Eseh, who scored his first try since arriving on loan from Wigan Warriors for a second time in February.

Leeds received a timely measure of impetus just before the break when Jack Ashworth's error gifted them possession and McDonnell went over from the returning Brodie Croft's pass, but Hull's kicking continued to trouble the Rhinos after the restart.

In a chaotic sequence after a Pryce kick hit a post, Zak Hardaker kept his calm to supply John Asiata, whose pass found Barron to increase the visitors' advantage to 10 points.

Sezer added another two but prop Holroyd, who signed a contract extension until at least the end of the 2028 season this week, swiftly replied for Leeds after a dazzling run, celebrating wildly before Miller converted to keep the momentum building for the hosts.

Ryan Hall scored Leeds' fourth try in their win over Hull FC

Leeds continued to apply pressure but Hull threatened to extend their lead again when former Rhinos winger Tom Briscoe was denied by an outstanding Croft challenge with the final quarter approaching.

That intervention looked even more important when Riley Lumb stormed over in a corner to put Leeds within sight of overturning the deficit with 12 minutes remaining, collecting a beautiful Ash Handley pass after Connor had combined with Croft.

Hull looked to have hung on for a first win in their past three attempts at Leeds thanks to a gritty display before the scintillating final act denied John Cartwright's players a result that would have sent them above their opponents.

Super League record try scorer Hall showed immense strength to score the winner with precious little space to work in from an inspired Miller pass after Kallum Watkins had wriggled free to the wild joy of the home fans at Headingley.

Miller missed the conversion but Leeds avoided any alarms in the final few seconds.

Lewis Martin (far right) opened the scoring

'Tough to take when you lose like that' - reaction

Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur told BBC Radio Leeds:

"It was brave. We're learning some good lessons while collecting a few points. The thing I'm really impressed with is that we're 11 rounds in and the desire is still there - we're making the right choices in terms of our effort and physicality.

"That's down to the players - not me - and it's the bit I'm really excited about. They're giving us something to work with. We're miles away from our best and we're getting better each week.

"I was pretty happy with myself because I'm usually quite emotional, but I remained nice and calm. I felt that if we could drag it into our style and execute our plan... they probably beat us at the simpler aspects of the game. We've got plenty to learn from it but at least it didn't cost us the points.

"There were three or four sets in a row on our tryline. From there, I felt like we were going to win it, it was going to come down to the last couple of minutes and we were going to come up with something big."

Hull FC head coach John Cartwright told BBC Radio Humberside:

"It's always tough to take when you lose like that. [Ryan Hall] is a big strong boy and he's done that many a time.

"We found a good balance between being aggressive and showing discipline. We held the lead for pretty much all but 30 seconds. There was nothing between the teams - they just got the run of the ball in that last couple of minutes and we weren't good enough to push them over the sideline.

"[Jordan Rapana] is OK. They were worried about his neck because he was a bit non-responsive when they went out to him, so they had to do all the protocols for a neck injury. His neck's fine and he's up and about. He's just copped a nasty knock to the head.

"It was very concerning, when you saw the way the stretcher went out and he was motionless on the ground. He's in good hands now."

Leeds: Miller; Hall, Newman, Handley, Lumb; Connor, Croft; Oledzki, O'Connor, Palasia, McDonnell, Gannon, Watkins.

Interchanges: Lisone, Holroyd, Bentley, Smith.

Hull FC: Pryce; Barron, Rapana, Litten, Martin; Cust, Sezer; Ese'ese, Bourouh, Knight, Hardaker, Chamberlain, Asiata.

Interchanges: Ashworth, Briscoe, Eseh, Fash.

Referee: Jack Smith.