Hunslet RLFC 50 Leeds Rhinos 12

A young Leeds Rhinos side showed plenty of spirit and fight in the club's final pre-season fixture against Hunslet, who lifted the Harry Jepson OBE Memorial Trophy with a 50-12 win at the South Leeds Stadium. The home side started the affair as the stronger side and came close to scoring early with Adam Ryder, before the centre crashed over the try line on eight minutes as Hunslet opened up the Rhinos' edge. Despite their inexperience in comparison with their opponents, Leeds weren't prepared to lie down and Smith's side opened some promising chances but couldn't quite find the execution. Kai Morgan and Shane Tuohey looked lively and almost put Riley Lumb over in the corner, but the final pass from half back Morgan was mistimed and rolled out of play. Lumb missed a chance for another try shortly after as he tried to pick off Jimmy Watson's pass but couldn't keep hold of the ball. Ryder doubled Hunslet's lead on the 20-minute mark with another strong run off the edge but the visitors soon gave their fans in attendance something to cheer about. Following a dart of dummy half by Bailey Aldridge, the hooker passed inside for Joe Gibbons, who was running onto the pass with enough pace to break through a hole and touch down under the posts. The Parksiders responded quickly to restore their advantage with Danny Barcoe, who hit a crash ball well to barrel over the white line. Going into the final moments of the half, tempers began to flair and both sides had players sent to the sin bin as Michael Knowles and Ashton Robinson were shown a yellow card for fighting. Leeds were given the subsequent penalty and Morgan's goal closed the score line to 14-8 at the break.   Hunslet's experience showed in the second half but their additional six tries wasn't a fair representation of the Rhinos' efforts. Ryder and Joe Burton quickly took the scoreline beyond Leeds with tries in the first ten minutes of the restart, but there were moments of brilliance from the young side. Morgan caught the Hunslet defence napping to break free, before showing great footwork to round the full back and score Leeds' second of the game. Changes for both sides saw more of Leeds' young talent gain valuable minutes, but they couldn't withstand the Hunslet attack. Ryder got lucky for his fourth try, which came off the shoulder of Shane Tuohey and into the centre's arms for a straightforward finish, before a passage of play involving Harvey Whiteley and Nathan Conroy ended with Sweeting adding to his points tally for the afternoon. Forwards Steve Crossley and Nathan Newbound also put their names on the list of scorers in the closing minutes to close out a 50-12 result for the Parksiders.