Leeds Rhinos Under-18s Academy’s winning run in 2025 continued at Stanningley as the young Rhinos scored 14 tries in a convincing 80-0 display against Bradford Bulls in a thriller in the sunshine.

Despite what the final score suggests, the first ten minutes of the contest could have seen either side capitalise on opportunities. The Bulls couldn’t make the Rhinos pay for a ball steal by Dan Stelfox as strong goal line defence from Leeds kept the visitors at bay, whilst in attack Sam Johnson should have got the first try of the game in the corner but the winger fumbled the ball before the try line.

Despite not finding any rhythm as the sun began to set, Oscar Brown came up with the important try that began Leeds’ eventual routing on the twelfth minute. Leeds’ right edge of George Brown, Zak Lloyd, Oscar Brown and Marcus Qareqare, who terrorised the Bulls for most of the night, connected up smoothly to put Oscar Brown through a hole to grab the opening try before Marcus Qareqare continued his try-scoring run of form as he took on both Harvey Duckworth and Demir Acarer to get over the line.

 The Bulls rode the Leeds pressure well and restricted the Rhinos to just ten points until the half-hour mark, where the floodgates began to slowly open. For all their hard work in defence, Bradford couldn’t stop Brown from scoring his second of the game as he wasn’t going to be stopped from short range. Harley Thomas, who had a great night with the kicking boot, followed it up swiftly after with a long range effort under the posts, plus Daniel Stelfox got fortunate when a kick through from George Brown came off the legs of Will Eyre and back into the arms of the Leeds prop for a straightforward try. Thomas converted four of the five tries to give Leeds a 28-0 lead at the break.

A one-sided second half saw Leeds keep up their scoring rate of a point for every minute, but more importantly their defensive effort kept Bradford scoreless.

Man of the match Brown was a beneficiary again of good link up play between George Brown and Lloyd, who released the centre to stretch his legs for his hat trick try. No sooner had he got his third, Brown was back over the try line celebrating his fourth with another short range, burrowing effort to take the score to 40-0 with ten minutes of the new half played.

Chev Walker’s side were starting to find their flow, and it wasn’t just Brown reaping the rewards. Wade White came up with another long-range effort as he backed himself going around Bradford’s defence to sneak through and score, before Johnson made up for his earlier effort as the winger took on his opposite number and drove his way to the line.

Brown’s fifth of the night continued to inspire the side as Qareqare quickly grabbed his second, after the winger cleaned up a spilled pass from Duckworth that no Bradford player tried to reclaim.

Joe Diskin made a quick impact off the bench as he kept the scoreboard ticking towards 70 points with ten minutes to go, and two more tries ensured an emphatic win for the young Rhinos.

Another poor pass was swept up by Jayemm Oladipupo, who stretched his legs with a half break but eventually chose to put White over for the full back’s second try. Sub Hughie Tinkler, who was playing his first Under-18s game since coming back from injury, also made an inspired break to put Elliott Fox between the posts to conclude the scoring. Thomas added his twelfth conversion on the final whistle to put the cherry on the top of a spirited performance from the Rhinos.

The Bulls, to their credit, kept fighting until the end and almost stole a try when Milo Bostock made a desperate dive out of dummy half, but Leeds impressively rallied to keep the hooker out and keep their opponents scoreless as the full time whistle sounded.

Teams

Rhinos U18s

1. Wade White, 2. Marcus Qareqare, 3. Oscar Brown, 4. Harley Thomas, 5. Sam Johnson, 6. George Brown, 7. Harry Smith, 8. Dan Stelfox, 9. Elliott Fox, 10. Joe Butterfield, 11. Jacob Stead, 12. Zak Lloyd, 13. Jacob Hardy

Subs: 14. Joe Diskin, 15. Dacx Jones-Buchanan, 16. Hughie Tinkler, 17. Jayemm Oladipupo (18^th Man – Logan Staveley-Carr)

Tries: O.Brown (12, 30, 43, 47, 58), Qareqare (16, 63), Thomas (36), Stelfox (39), White (51, 74) Johnson (55), Diskin (70), Fox (77)

Goals: Thomas 12/14

Bulls U18s

1. William Eyre, 2. Robben Bramhall, 3. Mason Peach, 4. Harvey Duckworth, 5. Demir Acarer, 6. Jude Toulson, 7. Archie Wright, 8. Cameron Bate, 14. Milo Bostock, 10. Alfie Leak, 11. Jayden Wright, 12. Sam Leyson, 13. Lewis Owens

Subs: 14. Henry Walsh, 15. James Rowney, 16. Jake Dibden, 17. Sean Twomey (18^th Man – Isaac Oughton)