Leeds Rhinos 46 York Knights 14

Leeds Rhinos marked their first home game of the 2026 Betfred Super League season with a resounding 46-14 win as they ran eight tries past York Knights in round two.

Wingers Ryan Hall and Maika Sivo led the points scoring with two tries each, whilst fans were also treated to great tries from James McDonnell, Brodie Croft, Harry Newman and Chris Hankinson a week before the side travel to Las Vegas to face Hull KR.

Looking to bounce back from their loss to Leigh in round one, Brad Arthur was able to call upon five returning players for the Knights’ visit. Reigning Man of Steel Jake Connor made his first appearance of the season in the halves, whilst the forward pack received the biggest boost as Jeremiah Mata’utia made his Super League debut alongside the return of Keenan Palasia and Cameron Smith from injury. The biggest inclusion was Fijian flyer Maika Sivo, who concluded a year-long absence with an ACL injury to pull on a Rhinos shirt for the first time in a competitive fixture.

York’s first Super League visit to Leeds saw Mark Applegarth name five former Rhinos players in his squad. Paul McShane, Oli Field, Justin Sangare, King Vuniyayawa and Ben Jones-Bishop all faced their former club, whilst changes from the win over Hull KR saw Ata Hingano and Jesse Dee miss out and Vuniyayawa and Kieran Buchanan coming in.

Buoyed by a first home outing, the Rhinos looked lively early on as they set out their stall to make it a difficult evening for the Knights. Finding early joy down Brodie Croft and Harry Newman’s edge, Ryan Hall was put into space for a break, but his kick back inside fell into the arms of Ben Jones-Bishop to recover for the visitors. The chance was just a warning shot as off the back of a York goal line drop out, James McDonnell was the recipient of a bullet pass from Jake Connor to get the first points of the night for the Rhinos.

York mustered a response to keep the AMT Headingley crowd on tenterhooks. After Jones-Bishop had been stopped on a half break, the Knight tested Leeds’ defensive resolve and found a crack as Paul Vaughan forced his way to the line to level the score.

The half remained a close contest as both sides looked for a breakthrough, but it was Sivo who produced the game’s magic moment with a brilliant finish.  Leeds’ combinations started clicking as Levi, Connor and Miller spread the ball to the edge for Sivo to steamroll the York winger on his way to the try line.

Another brilliant try moments later opened up a 10-point gap on the scoreboard as Leeds began to run away with the contest. Man of the match Croft broke the York line and found Miller in support, but with York defenders bearing down on him, the Leeds full back floated a pass to Levi, who in turn found Hall for a well-worked effort.

The try scoring didn’t let up as the Rhinos added further tries on either side of half time. Chris Hankinson was the beneficiary of an offload from Kallum Watkins to get Leeds’ fourth, and Connor made sure to add the conversion to make the score 22-6 at the break. Despite a cagey start to the second period, in which Watkins was denied two tries by the video referee, Hall got Leeds back on track as he intercepted a pass from Nikau Williams for his second try of the night.

Jordan Thompson kept the Knights in the game momentarily as he supported a Liam Harris break to get another score on the board for the away side, but a piece of great solo play from Croft saw the half back step both Williams and Toa Mata’afa to get over the line on the hour mark. Connor’s conversion opened up a comfortable 34-10 lead.

 Croft was on hand to get Harry Newman a first try of the season – the centre latching onto a cute kick ahead from the Leeds half back, before Sivo added his second of the night after York failed to deal with a towering kick from Connor.

Scott Galeano gave the travelling fans a consolation score to cheer about in the dying moments, but it didn’t take away from a resounding 46-14 triumph for the Rhinos to get their first win of the league season.

Teams

Rhinos

1. Lachie Miller, 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Harry Newman, 14. Chris Hankinson, 5. Ryan Hall, 6. Brodie Croft, 7. Jake Connor, 10. Tom Holroyd, 23. Danny Levi, 15. Cooper Jenkins, 11. Kallum Watkins (C), 12. James McDonnell, 17. Cameron Smith

Subs: 9. Jarrod O’Connor, 13. Keenan Palasia, 16. Ethan O’Neill, 19. Jeremiah Mata’utia (18^th Man – 27. George Brown)

Tries: McDonnell (12), Sivo (30, 68), Hall (33, 52), Hankinson (38), Croft (60), Newman (65)

Goals: Connor 7/8

Knights

1. Toa Mata’afa, 2. Ben Jones-Bishop, 4. Sam Wood, 21. Kieran Buchanan, 5. Scott Galeano, 26. Nikau Williams, 7. Liam Harris, 15. Xavier Va’a, 9. Paul McShane, 10. Paul Vaughan, 11. Josh Griffin, 20. Oli Field, 13. Jordan Thompson

Subs: 8. Jack Martin, 14. Denive Balmforth, 16. Justin Sangare, 31. King Vuniyayawa (18^th Man – 22. John Sagaga)

Tries: Vaughan (18), Thompson (57), Galeano (78)

Goals: Harris 1/3