By Guy Harvey

Our young scholars made the short trip to Odsal Stadium to face old foes Bradford Bulls, but with a hat trick of tries from Zak Lloyd plus braces from Micah Charles and debutant Bailey Hardy it was certainly a pleasing performance for Mark Butterill and his staff.

Leeds began dominantly and only took a couple of minutes to get on the scoreboard, centre Jacob Toala crashed over from close range after the ball was worked wide by half back pairing Wade White and Seth Marchant at great speed. Leeds was quick out of the blocks, but the home side weren’t far behind and as Leeds attempted to kick downfield on the last tackle, but Bradford charged down the attempt and Leeds couldn’t regather possession giving the home side an opportunity; however, Leeds was strong in defence and denied the Bulls a scoring chance.

Leeds stretched their lead further moments later when Zak Lloyd was held up over the try line but from the play the ball the Rhinos spread the ball left finding winger Jack Smith but with work still to do managed to force his way over for the try despite the effort of the Bradford defence which wasn’t lacking. Leeds was certainly finding their groove and beginning to play nice rugby and their next try was an example of this with half back Wade White finding space to offload to centre Jacob Toala who gave an audacious offload to find Micah Charles on the right edge with enough space ahead of him to dive over untouched.

Bradford were 12-0 down but it didn’t dampen their efforts and it took the Leeds defence to be at it’s best to hold the Bulls up over the try line. But as the home side continued to battle Alfie Steel charged down a Bradford kick on the last and regathered the ball, but as he looked up spotted Seth Marchant to his side choosing to pass the ball allowing Marchant to race from halfway to score the try midway through the first half. This began a bit of an onslaught with Leeds scoring on the next set after Wade White stepped to create space in the Bulls defensive line which he went through at great pace racing all the way through to score under the posts.

The Rhinos were really putting Bradford to the sword now and a couple of sets later Zak Lloyd crashed over from close range in your old-fashioned forwards try. Leeds found themselves on the Bradford try line again on the next set and Noah Lunn spotted enough space in the defensive line to go himself and score the try and with the conversion from Marchant sent Leeds in at half time with 32-0 lead which was harsh on the home side given their efforts in the first half.

The half time lead did the home side good, and they came out in the second half well despite the deficit of the scoreline keeping the Rhinos in their own forty for a good ten minutes. Leeds weathered the storm well however holding the Bulls up over the try line on once occasion whilst forcing errors from the other sets. But it was the Rhinos that scored next when debutant Bailey Hardy scored his first of the night capitalising on a knock on from the Bulls full back as he tried to gather the kick on the last from the Rhinos, Hardy gathered the ball crossing in the corner untouched, Zak Lloyd converting from the touch line.

Hardy doubled his tally on the next set crossing in the corner again after the ball is passed to the left edge quickly giving Hardy an opportunity to get in corner that Bradford still made him work for. Leeds were back to their dominant self shown in their first half crossing again minutes later after a line break allowed Harvey Butterworth the opportunity to offload to Dacx Jones-Buchanan who crashed over for the try taking a couple of Bradford defenders with him. Bradford however didn’t give up and just after then sixty-minute mark got their reward as they scored through centre Thomas Glover crossing down the right edge after quick hands gave Glover enough space to go through the Rhinos defence.

Leeds wouldn’t score again until after the seventy-minute mark, giving the home side credit due to their determination, however Leeds scored next after hooker Harvey Butterworth took the ball to the line drawing in the Bulls defence allowing Zak Lloyd to run a great line taking a nice pass from Butterworth to race through and score his second of the night which he also converted. Leeds scored again moments later after a quick play at the scrum shifting the ball out to the right edge finding winger Micah Charles with pace to burn raced around his opposite number to score his second of the night and again converted by Lloyd. Leeds wasn’t finished there however and with seconds left on the clock Zak Lloyd completed his hat trick breaking the Bulls defensive line again to race away and score from thirty metres out and the final conversion successful from Jack Mears.

The scholars are next in action on Thursday 13^th June after a littler break against Huddersfield Giants at Stanningley with a 7pm kick off.

Bradford Bulls Scholarship

• Ellis Singer
  
• Reuben Flynn
  
• Thomas Glover
  
• Dylan Keenan
  
• Isaac Graham
  
• Freddie Hunkin
  
• William Eyre
  
• Logan Borland
  
• Dylan Garbett
  
• Daniel Kent
  
• Jayden Wright
  
• William Barber
  
• Jake Baker
  
• Milo Bostock
• Haris Chhibu (21)
• Joseph Gill
  
• Harrison Lazenby
  
• Alfie Lee
  
• Sean Twomey
  
• Tomas Wagstaff (23)
  

Leeds Rhinos Scholarship

• Will Hunter
  
• Jack Smith t
  
• Jacob Tooala t
  
• Sonny Hetherington
  
• Micah Charles tt
  
• Wade White t
  
• Seth Marchant c c t
• Will Wilkinson
  
• Noah Lunn t
  
• Robin Smith
  
• Zak Lloyd Tttcc ccc
  
• Alfie Steel
  
• Jacob Hardy
  
• Harvey Butterworth
  
• Dacx Jones-Buchanan t
  
• Jack Mears c
  
• Jack Manning
  
• Bailey Hardy t t
  
• Daniel Shaw
  
• Connor Mullins