Bradford Bulls Reserves 6 Leeds Rhinos Reserves 84

An outstanding six-try display from centre Oscar Brown helped Leeds Rhinos Reserves bounce back to winning ways as they defeated Bradford Bulls Reserves 82-0 at Horsfall Stadium.

A confident 18-try performance from the Rhinos started inside the first minutes when two Riley Lumb scores put the visitors ahead. The winger leapt the highest to beat Joel Rice for the opening try of the game before he intercepted Sam Ackroyd’s pass to score under the posts to gift Leeds the upper hand – a status they never lost throughout the 80 minutes.

Good handling by Leeds pivots Harry Smith and Fergus McCormack spread the ball out to Brown, who bulldozed his way through three attempted tackles to find the line to keep the scoreboard moving, before Lumb completed his hat trick as Walker’s side held a commanding 18-0 lead after as many minutes. The former Lock Lane winger then unselfishly started to produce tries for his team mates – Kai Irvine supported from an arching run by Lumb to finish off another well-worked try as the half back marked his debut for the Reserves team.

Bradford were struggling under the pressure of Leeds’ attack, led by Jeremiah Mata’utia, Tom Nicholson-Watton and Presley Cassell who were finding joy after contact to move the Rhinos downfield. The Bulls’ discipline also put the home side on the back foot and Ethan O’Neill made them pay with his third try in as many Reserves games.

Despite poor goal kicking keeping the scoreline at a reasonable 28-0, Leeds’ attack kept moving through the gears. Marcus Qareqare strolled in at the corner to score his first try of the season, and Brown replied to a good spell for the Bulls by breaking through from a designed scrum play for the centre to score his second of the afternoon.

Irvine added his second try of the game thanks to great footwork and agility from Ned McCormack in the build-up to start the attack, but tries either side of half-time from Brown all but ended the contest as Bradford started the throw in the towel. From the restart following Irvine’s try, Dacx Jones-Buchanan had an immediate impact from the bench as he broke clear and passed for Brown to score, and then the centre latched onto Smith’s last tackle kick at the start of the second period to take the score to 48-0.

Jones-Buchanan was unlucky to miss a scoring chance as Jacob Stead’s break should have seen the forward cross the try line, but referee Pemberton judged Jones-Buchanan had lost the ball. O’Neill took his chance for a second of the game though as he breezed through the Bulls defence.

Fergus McCormack joined the list of Leeds scorers as he scored his second try of the season off another Jones-Buchanan break. The former Stanningley forward finally got his try too as he crashed onto an Elliott Fox pass to dive over the line and make the score 66-0 on the hour mark.

Brown continued a standout afternoon with a fifth score, whilst Ned McCormack was also rewarded for a solid outing on the edge with a try as the scoreline became a blowout at 74-0. Lewis Hagan grabbed a consolation effort to ensure the Bulls didn’t leave scoreless, but the match belonged to Leeds as a sixth Brown try and great solo effort from Joe Diskin rounded off a convincing 84-6 result for Leeds.

Teams

Bulls

1. Harry Copley, 2. Joel Rice, 3. Harvey Duckworth, 4. Lewis Hagan, 5. Joel Walsh, 6. Sam Ackroyd, 7. Tom Guilhaumou, 8. Cameron Bate, 9. Alex Cowley, 10. Ronan Michael, 11. Fin Thompson, 12. Sam Leyson, 13. Eliot Peposhi

Subs: Joe Bullough, Henry Walsh, Lore Jones-Buchanan, Luke Mearns

Tries: Hagan (73)

Goals: Ackroyd 1/1

Rhinos

1. Fergus McCormack, 2. Marcus Qareqare, 4. Oscar Brown, 3. Ned McCormack, 5. Riley Lumb, 6. Kai Irvine, 7. Harry Smith, 8. Jeremah Mata’utia, 9. Joe Diskin, 10. Tom Nicholson-Watton, 11. Ben Littlewood, 12. Ethan O’Neill, 13. Presley Cassell

Subs: 14. Elliott Fox, 15. Dacx Jones-Buchanan, 16. Oliver Smart, 17. Jacob Stead

Tries: Lumb (2, 7, 13), Brown (10, 32, 39, 41, 66, 74), Irvine (16, 36), O’Neill (21, 50), Qareqare (24), F.McCormack (56), Jones-Buchanan (62), N.McCormack (70), Diskin (79)

Goals: Lumb 1/4, Irvine 2/9, O’Neill 2/4, Brown 1/2