Wests Warriors 0 Leeds Rhinos 92

Leeds Rhinos kicked off their 2025 season with an enthralling 92-0 victory over Wests Warriors, that included hat-tricks from Sam Lisone and Ryan Hall.

The Rhinos gave full debuts to off-season signings Jake Connor, Keenan Palasia and Cooper Jenkins as Hall played his second full debut at AMT Headingley. Alfie Edgell returned on the bench after suffering a jaw injury in pre-season.

Wests, who play in the Southern Conference League, had an array of experience in their side. Former London Bronco Iliess Macani started on the wing whilst former NSW cup halfback Jack Payne also featured. Will Poching, son of Leeds legend Willie Poching, faced the side his father played over 150 games for.

Leeds scored eight tries in the first half, in what is their first Challenge Cup win since the 2020 final against Salford.

Hall opened the scores for the Rhinos. The winger marked his return immediately with the first of his three tries on the day. James McDonnell back patted Brodie Croft’s cross-field kick, and the 37-year-old was there to pick up and force himself over the line.

Five minutes later, Riley Lumb crossed on the other side of the pitch. The ball was spread left and the young winger did well to get the ball down in the corner. Jake Connor was successful with the first of the two conversions and the Rhinos were scoring at a point a minute, being 10-0 up after 10 minutes.

Connor then got on the scoresheet after being in support of Ash Handley’s cross-field run. The pair linked up to beat the Warriors full back, Blake Nahu, and score next to the posts. He managed to convert his own kick and the Rhinos led by 16.

Jack Sinfield’s first and Hall’s second came next. The former received an excellent offload from Cameron Smith following the skipper’s great line break. Brodie Croft’s magnificent cut-out pass to Harry Newman gave the centre space to give the ball to the winger who crossed for his brace. Connor added both goals and after 20 minutes the Rhinos led by 28.

Sinfield returned the favour to his captain as the youngster, who operated at hooker in the first half, broke the line from dummy half and found Smith who barged under the posts. Connor added the easy conversion.

Morgan Gannon and Matt Frawley rounded off the first half scoring. The former finding a gap between two defenders on the Wests’ line and capitalising. The latter was in support of Sinfield and it was great play between the two to score the Rhinos’ eighth of the match. Connor added the second of the two tries and at half time, the Rhinos led 44-0.

The second half began with the Sam Lisone show. Two tries in seven minutes from the prop forward stunned the crowd at AMT Headingley. The first, a case of right place right time as he got an offload from Gannon at close range to score. The second, he was in support of Andy Ackers who broke the line 30 metres out and passed to a bulldozing Lisone. Connor added both conversions to take Leeds 56-0 up.

Sinfield’s second and a try for Alfie Edgell followed. Now playing at stand-off, the 20-year-old received a pass from a quick ruck after Lisone got Leeds up to half way. Wests’ defence couldn’t keep up with the speed of the Rhinos and Sinfield dummied the full back to score under the posts. He then turned to assister as a perfectly timed short ball to Edgell gave him one of the easier tries of his Leeds career. Connor was successful with both conversions to take the lead to 68-0.

Shortly after, Tom Holroyd was in the perfect position to field Frawley’s central high kick. He leapt and toppled Nahu to score under the posts. That was before Hall crossed for his hat-trick try, capitalising on a shift play right and diving over in the corner. With a quarter of the game left, the Rhinos were up by 80.

The final tries came from Gannon again and a hat trick for Lisone. The first, a lovely short ball from Connor fooled everyone and the young second rower profited to touch down. To round things off, Lisone strolled in for his third on the right after the ball was spread across. Connor had a 100% success rate from the boot in the second half, giving Leeds an emphatic 92-0 win and a place in the Challenge Cup fourth round.

Leeds: Connor, Lumb, Newman, Handley, Hall, Croft, Frawley, Palasia, Sinfield, Jenkins, McDonnell, Gannon, Smith. Subs: Ackers, Lisone, Edgell, Holroyd.

Tries: Hall x3, Lisone x3, Gannon x2, Sinfield x2, Connor, Edgell, Holroyd, Frawley, Lumb, Smith.

Goals: Connor 14/16

Wests: Nahu, Macani, Gribble, Nichols, Walker, Thomas, Payne, Robinson, Thorman, Laumatia-Paki, Poching, Johnson-Thomas, O’Callaghan. Subs: Devlin, Griffiths, M Greenhalgh, J Greenhalgh.