Leeds Rhinos Under-18s produced another high-scoring performance on home soil as a hat trick from Joe Diskin led a 12-try win over Wakefield Trinity.

The young Rhinos came into the game with a perfect record of five wins from five games and made sure they started fast in this one as they opened the scoring on their first attacking set. Utilising their field position as they began the set on their own 40 metre line, George Brown connected with Jacob Hardy to set the back rower through a hole in the Trinity defence. He got the ball away to Oscar Brown in support, the centre kept in the field of play long enough to offload to Joe Diskin for the first points of the game.

An offside penalty against Trinity put them quickly on the back foot again as Zak Lloyd doubled the home side’s lead before the ten-minute mark; the back rower cutting back against the run of play to go through the Wakefield line and beat full back Mason McLelland to get to the try line.

Wakefield were proving their own enemy as a poor kick for the sidelines off the back of a penalty fell into the hands of Wade White. The play was quickly followed by a knock-on by Harry Knight, but Lloyd couldn’t hold onto Harry Smith’s pass for what would have been a third try of the game.

Putting the opportunity aside, the young Rhinos responded with a brilliant team try to take them to 16 points before the 20-minute mark. Moving the ball wide to Thomas, the winger did well to keep himself in the field of play and keep the ball moving. Shifting across the line, Presley Cassell snuck an offload out of the back to George Brown, who found Harry Smith to breeze over untouched.

Diskin added his second try of the game soon after to keep the scoreboard moving to 20 points, and George Brown also got in on the scoring action as he collected a loose carry by Zack Clegg to touch down under the posts.

With half time in sight, Jayemm Oladipupo came off the bench to score his first try of 2025; the prop supporting a break by Cassell to add his name to the list of scorers. White also crossed before the half-time whistle to make the score 40-0 to the Rhinos.

Leeds’ second half scoring took only a matter of minutes as Jacob Stead found himself over the try line after three minutes. The chance looked to have gone when George Brown lost the ball trying to cut through himself, but after the referee judged that the Wakefield man stripped the ball, a quick move left soon caught Wakefield short on numbers and Stead found the try line.

Oscar and George Brown combined as the centre set up his half back with a break down the sidelines to take Leeds over 50 points, but the Rhinos would have to wait to see the try line again.

Dax Millington and Dacx Jones-Buchanan were both held up over the line as the home side kept turning Trinity over on their own line, but Leeds couldn’t make their defensive efforts count as they kept coming up short of the line.

The breakthrough came 12 minutes from full time as Diskin got his third of the night. Hardy was the creator as he kept the ball alive to offload for the hooker to score, before the former Lock Lane player got a try of his own as he supported Lloyd’s run through the line to take the score to 64 unanswered points.

Oscar Brown made sure his name got on the scoresheet before the full time whistle too as the Rhinos took away another big win at home.

Teams

Rhinos U18s

1. Wade White, 2. Marcus Qareqare, 3. Oscar Brown, 4. Cobi Ellis, 5. Harley Thomas, 6. George Brown, 7. Harry Smith, 8. Joe Butterfield, 9. Joe Diskin, 10. Presley Cassell, 11. Jacob Hardy, 12. Zak Lloyd, 13. Dacx Jones-Buchanan

Subs: 14. Dylan Hutchinson, 15. Jacob Stead, 16. Dax Millington, 17. Jayemm Oladipupo (18^th Man – Harvey Butterfield)

Tries: Diskin (2, 21, 68), Lloyd (6), Smith (18), G.Brown (30, 48), Oladipupo (33), White (37), Stead (43), Hardy (74), O.Brown (77)

Goals: Thomas 11/12

Trinity U18s

1. Mason McLelland, 2. Tommy Law, 3. Harley Saunders, 4. Dan Hetherington, 5. Harry Knight, 6. Noah Kershaw, 7. Robbie Brook, 8. Ellis Lingard, 9. Rowan Stephenson, 10. Finnley Thompson, 11. Zack Clegg, 12. Ewan Molyneux, 13. Will Hardie

Subs: 14. Harrison Powell, 15. Jackson Cummins, 16. Mason Bowes, 17. Junior Rowse (18^th Man – Elijah Hylton)