Bradford Bulls Under-18s 32 Leeds Rhinos Under-18s 50

On a night that saw the RFL trial it’s new law modifications, Leeds Rhinos Under-18s ran out 50-32 victors against Bradford Bulls Under-18s, thanks to a second half fightback.

Having lost this fixture last year, the Rhinos were quick to get on the scoresheet when Bobby Hartley got his first of the game. Helped downfield off the back of consecutive penalties, the young Rhinos found themselves over the line with new boy Ned McCormack, but he was held up. On the next play though, a handy offload from Harrison Gilmore found its way into Bobby Hartley’s hands and the forward crashed over the line, despite the effort of three Bulls defenders.

Although George Hough hit back for Bradford, Harrison Gilmore gave Leeds their lead straight back off the back of a good pass from Fergus McCormack.

The Rhinos continued to dominate and Neil Tchamambe’s two quick-fire tries was enough to establish a 20 point advantage with over 20 minutes played. A great short side shift from Mason Corbett close to the try line again put Tchamambe, who was recently included in the England Youth squad, over for his first before Gilmore and Ned McCormack did well to keep the ball alive for the former Leeds Irish winger to touch down. Riley Lumb kicked the latter attempt, making the score 20-0 to the visitors.

The lead quickly evaporated though as Bradford started to see more of the ball. Will Smith managed to round the Leeds edge and get a needed score back for the Bulls, and then Lewis Hough and Connor Sayer added further scores to level the score at the break.

Coming out for the second half, both sides were quickly down to twelve each as Ben Littlewood and George Flanagan Jr were sin binned after tempers boiled over. Unaffected, Bradford’s Lewis Hough took his chance to get his second try of the game off the back of another strong drive for the line. Josh Perkins’ conversion made it 26-20.

The Rhinos matched the Bulls score, Dylan Proud crossing in the corner, but Flanagan Jr’s reintroduction saw the half back connect with a kick in behind to score.

From there on in though, it was all Leeds as Tony Smith’s side turned around the 32-24 score. Prop Hartley, who had a great game in the front row, twisted out of another heavy challenge from the Bulls to get under the posts, before new boy McCormack grabbed his first try in Leeds colours to make the score 34-32 in favour of the away side.

Proud pulled off an acrobatic effort to get his second of the evening, but Tchamambe stole the headlines with his hat trick try. Finding themselves camped on the Bradford line, a nice kick over the top from Corbett sat up just right for Tchamambe to score before it went out of play.

Even when Ned McCormack was sin binned in the closing stages of the game, Leeds' attack kept flowing and Zach McSwiney completed the scoring with a devastating run for the posts. Corbett’s subsequent conversion took the Leeds score over 50 on the final whistle.