Hull KR 6 Leeds Rhinos 58

An unforgettable night in Las Vegas saw Leeds Rhinos demolish newly crowned World Champions Hull KR 58-6 at Allegiant Stadium thanks to a man of the match performance from winger Maika Sivo.

A year after being ruled out with an ACL injury for the entirety of the 2025 season, Sivo was unstoppable with two tries each in both halves, plus Brodie Croft, Keenan Palasia, Ryan Hall and Cooper Jenkins found the try line to take apart the 2025 treble winners.

A boost for the Rhinos saw skipper Ash Handley come into the lineup for his first appearance of the season. After missing the first two rounds of the season, the centre was an instant inclusion for Brad Arthur, who also promoted Keenan Palasia back into the starting 13. Tom Holroyd and Chris Hankinson both dropped to the bench, whilst Ben Littlewood’s try scoring performance for the Reserves against Wakefield saw the forward included amongst the substitutes too.

A week after Willie Peters’ side had been crowned World Champions against Brisbane Broncos, a remarkable first half performance from the Rhinos saw Arthur’s side run five tries passed the Robins in the first half to all but end the contest after 40 minutes.

Buoyed by the Kaiser Chiefs and Eurasia pre match, both sides made an edgy start to the contest but Leeds quickly found a foothold as Maika Sivo produced the first points of the evening. After the Robins had dominated most of the early exchanges, the Rhinos combated the reigning Super League champions’ threat with a well worked set that ended in a set restart as Harry Newman collected Brodie Croft’s towering bomb kick. Quickly moving the ball to the edge, Jake Connor’s pass was accurate into the hands of Sivo, who backed up scoring twice against York last time out by brushed aside Tom Davies and Peta Hiku to force his way to the try line for his first score of the afternoon.

Off the back of an error from Croft, Hull KR thought they had a response when Lewis collected a loose ball in the in-goal area, but referee Jack Smith was quick to refuse the try for a knock on by Oliver Gildart in the build up. Returning the ball down to towards the Leeds faithful, quick thinking from Handley saw the skipper fling the ball back into the hands of Connor, who’s quick pass found the hands of Sivo to reach out to get the ball over the try line for his second score of the game. Video referee Tom Grant awarded the try to the Fijian after a review, giving Leeds a comfortable 12-0 lead after 15 minutes.

A profitable first half continued as Croft provided a three tries to give Leeds a larger advantage over the reigning World Champions. Connor started an attack with a well placed 40/20 kick that full back Broadbent couldn’t deal with. From the ensuing set restart, Miller and Croft combined for the Leeds half back to dart his way to the line for a well worked try. Quick defence prevented Sivo from a hat trick try momentarily, after Hull KR gave up possession with a Jai Whitbread knock on close to the Robins’ own try line. Good work again from Connor opened up space on the edge, but Sivo’s run was tracked by Davies who put his opposite number into touch. Nevertheless, Keenan Palasia’s drive for the line was awarded by the video referee to send the Leeds fans into rapturous applause once again as the Samoan opened his account for the season.

Connor was on target with his fourth conversion of the game to make the score 24-0 with ten minutes left, before a fantastic first half was capped off with a sensational length of the field play. Jez Litten tried to create pressure for the Robins with a well weighted grubber kick that was diffused by Miller, but Sivo was quickest to react to collect the short drop out to race 90 metres to give Leeds possession inside their opponents 10 metres area again. Working the ball across the line with Connor and Cameron Smith, Croft waited to play his ball over the top for Ryan Hall to score in the corner untouched for an amazing finish.

Litten and Miller were both denied tries for obstructions as an extraordinary first half saw the Rhinos take a 28-0 lead into the break, and the second half continued in the same vein as the contest ran away from Hull KR. Davies’ attempt was denied as the winger was forced into touch in the act of scoring, before Miller was opportunistic with a broken field ahead of him, only for Joe Burgess to intervene as Croft chased. The Robins continued in the pursuit of points as Gildart found a seam to break down the edge, but good work from Croft saw the half back claim a chip over the top intended for Dean Hadley.

Two tries in quick succession from the Rhinos ended the contest with 20 minutes remaining as Sivo and Croft added to their try hauls at Allegiant Stadium. After coming up short early in the half, Croft earned his second try of the evening, thanks to quick work from Danny Levi out of dummy half to put his spine partner over. Sivo also marked his hat trick try as the winger took a pass from Miller to step inside Davies to take the score 40-0 with 60 minutes on the clock.

Burgess made sure the Robins didn’t leave with no points as the winger was posted into the corner by Gildart to get Peters’ side on the scoreboard, but night belonged to Sivo, whose fourth try was one of the wingers finest work. Great work with centre Handley enabled the Fijian to get round the outside of Davies and score in the corner for a sensational finish.

Hull KR continued to fight for as many points as they could get in the closing stages of the game as Davies and Burgess both came up short of the line to keep the Robins to one score. Yet again though, Leeds found points when it mattered as a brace of tries from Cooper Jenkins in the final minutes ended the scoring to see the Rhinos take an impressive result back to AMT Headingley.

Teams

Rhinos

1. Lachie Miller, 2. Maika Sivo, 4. Ash Handley, 3. Harry Newman, 5. Ryan Hall, 6. Brodie Croft, 7. Jake Connor, 13. Keenan Palasia, 23. Danny Levi, 15. Cooper Jenkins, 11. Kallum Watkins (C), 12. James McDonnell, 17. Cameron Smith

Subs: 9. Jarrod O’Connor, 14. Chris Hankinson, 25. Ben Littlewood (18th Man – 16. Ethan O’Neill)

Tries: Sivo (11, 16, 56, 69), Croft (25,51), Palasia (35), Hall (38), Jenkins (77, 79)

Goals: Connor 7/8, Hankinson 2/2

Robins

14. Jack Broadbent, 2. Tom Davies, 3. Peta Hiku, 4. Oliver Gildart, 5. Joe Burgess, 6. Mikey Lewis, 7. Tyrone May, 8. Sauaso Sue, 9. Jez Litten, 10. Tom Amone, 11. Dean Hadley, 12. James Batchelor, 13 Elliot Minchella

Subs: 15. Sam Luckley, 16. Jai Whitbread 17. Rhyse Martin, 19. Karl Lawton(18th Man – 18. Jack Brown)

Tries: Burgess (66)

Goals: Lewis 1/1