Four tries from half back George Brown on his Under-18s debut saw Leeds Rhinos post 62 unanswered points in a 62-12 win over Wakefield Trinity Under-18s at Stanningley.

Having suffered two early tries at the hands of the visitors, the Rhinos leaped into action thanks to Brown’s quartet, plus there was two tries for captain Presley Cassell as well as further scores from Harley Thomas, Jacob Stead, Marcus Qareqare, Callum Webster and Joe Diskin.

Team News

Head coach Tony Smith tweaked his side that defeated Hull FC a fortnight ago, bringing Brown in for Fergus McCormack. Oliver Smart also made his return to the lineup on the wing, whilst Noah Whittingham was moved back into the starting pack after coming off the bench against Hull.

1st Half

The young Rhinos gave themselves a mountain to climb in the opening stages of the game by conceding two quick tries at the hands of Jamie Field’s Trinity side. Using early ill-discipline by Leeds to their advantage, Sam Mackenzie managed to open up the Rhinos edge and feed Will Brough to score.

Shortly after, a knock on by Brown gave Wakefield the possession over the halfway line and straight from the scrum, Dominic Sinfield broke clean through for a straightforward finish under the posts. Brough converted both tries to make the score 12-0 after 10 minutes.

From thereon in, the game was dominated by the home side as they started to kick into gear. Presley Cassell, who had impressed with the Reserves five days before, gave Wakefield a scare as he rushed onto a grubber kick by Harry Smith, but was called offside by the referee to relieve pressure on the visitors. Shortly after though, the Rhinos made the breakthrough as Harley Thomas produced a wicked step to wrong-foot the Trinity defence and score.

The Wakefield lead was quickly reduced to two points as Cassell finally got his try after the loose forward exchanged passes with Joe Phillips to touch down. Thomas added the conversion to close the score to 12-10 in favour of Trinity.

Both sides kept grappling as the half continued; Ellis Lingard came off the bench and got very close to finding the try line. Resolute defence from Leeds kept Trinity at bay and they got their rewards as Brown crossed for his first of the night after finding a hole to wriggle his way through.

Just like against Hull FC last time out, a sin-binning late in the half saw Harry Smith leave the field for ten minutes as the half back was pulled up for kicking the ball away after a Leeds attack fell through. Trinity looked to counter as chances for Noah Crawshaw and Ewan Molyneux were both denied opportunities, but the referee’s half time whistle brought an end to proceedings as Leeds found themselves 16-12 ahead.

2nd Half

The second half saw the young Rhinos put Wakefield to the sword as Tony Smith’s side produced seven tries in a sensational 40 minutes of rugby.

Brown kicked off proceedings inside two minutes as he supported a break by Joe Diskin down the middle, and the half back found himself in the right place when the hooker offloaded back to take the scoring chance. Substitutes Bobby Hartley and Jayemm Oladipupo also caused problems for Wakefield, and off good drives by the pair, Presley Cassell was able to use his strength to break a hole in Trinity’s defence. Thomas converted both tries to take the score to 28-12.

The tries continued as another three inside of ten minutes took the game away from the visitors. Jacob Stead, who found himself among the scorers on his first Reserves game against London, continued his try-scoring form to get Leeds’ sixth, before Brown sealed his hat trick as he tormented a broken Wakefield defensive line.

Trinity’s best chance of the half saw Crawshaw come close to catching Noah Kershaw’s kick for the corner, but the winger couldn’t take the ball cleanly above Callum Webster. Off the back of the opportunity, Marcus Qareqare got a lucky bounce of the ball as Wakefield full back Mackenzie let a high kick from Smith hit the floor, and Qareqare was there to reclaim and touchdown to take the Rhinos beyond 40 points.

An injury to Thomas saw Leeds restructure their spine; Dylan Hutchinson slotting into full back having been brought on initially as a replacement half back. He was quickly involved in the action when he supported a break by Harry Taylor straight from a scrum and then fed Webster, who sprinted away from the Wakefield defence to finish a great effort. Smith took over kicking duties and put the ball between the posts to notch Leeds up to 50 points.

The scoring wasn’t over, even as the game reached it’s closing stages. Diskin was quick to exploit a slow Trinity defence and score in back to back matches, but the game belonged to man of the match Brown, who rounded off the scoring with another great try. Stead stepped up to convert the final try, giving the Rhinos a confident 62-12 win over their Yorkshire rivals

Next up

Next week sees Reserves take to the field, giving some of the young Rhinos a chance to recoup and prepare for a trip to face St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Saturday 25^th May, kick off 1pm.

Match Facts

Rhinos

1. Harley Thomas, 2. Callum Webster, 3. Marcus Qareqare, 4. Harry Taylor, 5. Oliver Smart, 6. George Brown, 7. Harry Smith, 8. Joe Butterfield, 9. Joe Diskin, 10. Joe Phillips, 11. Noah Whittingham, 12. Jacob Stead, 13. Presley Cassell

Subs: 14. Dylan Hutchinson, 15. Jayemm Oladipupo, 20. Bobby Hartley, 17. Declan White (18^th Man – Alex Cowley)

Tries: Thomas (16), Cassell (18, 48), Brown (25, 42, 58, 80), Stead (54), Qareqare (64), Webster (73), Diskin (78)

Goals: Thomas 6/8, Smith 2/2, Stead 1/1

Sin bin: Harry Smith (31) – professional foul

Wakefield Trinity

1. Sam Mackenzie, 2. Noah Crawshaw, 3. Will Brough, 4. Dominic Sinfield, 5. Cobie McGillvary, 6. Noah Kershaw, 7. Rowan Stephenson, 8. Harvey Roberts, 9. William Hardie, 10. Alfie Briggs, 11. Ewan Molyneux, 12. Ethan Barnes, 13. Jack Easton

Subs: 14. Cain Staveley-Carr, 15. Ashton Winks, 16. Hakan Aydin, 17. Ellis Lingard (18^th Man – Thomas Bell)

Tries: Brough (4), Sinfield (8)

Goals: Brough 2/2