Four tries from Sonny Hetherington contributed to a 13-try performance for Leeds Rhinos Under-18s as Chev Walker’s side produced a clinical 68-4 win over Leigh Leopards in their season opener.

Having named a young squad for the trip to Golborne Parkside, the Rhinos showed no lack of experience as they went at the Leopards from the first minute. Jacob Tooala, Wade White and Liam Watson had already started to find holes in the Leigh defensive line, and it was a matter of time before the first points ticked over on the scoreboard. Benefitting from errors by the home side, Harvey Butterworth backed up a drive to the line by Max Rhodes as the hooker dived out of dummy half to get the Rhinos’ first points of the season inside ten minutes.

With the deadlock broken, the young Rhinos pushed on as they scored five consecutive tries to lock up the win before the break. Working the ball downfield, Irvine’s kick on the last tackle was pushed back by Tooala into the arms of Zak Lloyd, who fed Sonny Hetherington for an easy finish in the corner to double the lead. 

Tooala turned from try assister to try scorer minutes later. Watson decided to stab a kick into the in-goal area – despite it being early in the tackle count – and Tooala was backing up to get to the ball first for a great finish.

Hetherington’s second try took Leeds beyond the 20-point margin, plus Irvine supported a break by Watson as the half back finished another length of the field effort. On the opposite wing, Tom Richardson found joy too as he was posts into the corner by a direct Wade White pass as the Rhinos had a comfortable lead on the 35-minute mark..

Leigh got their only points of the game heading into the break as Leyton Hull found his way to the line from a scrum, but the Leeds onslaught continued deep into the second 40 minutes.

Six minutes into the new half, Dacx Jones-Buchanan forced his way to the line for his first try of the season, before Hetherington’s hat trick try came on 48 minutes. The winger did well to initially collect a shallow kick from White, but with plenty of ground to cover before he reached the try line, the Siddal junior showed great footwork and speed to make sure he grounded the ball over the line.

Watson and White kept the scoreboard ticking over as they stretched Leeds’ lead to 50-4 on the hour mark, but the afternoon belonged to Hetherington who got his fourth try to wrap up a sensational Academy debut.

The closing stages of the game saw Tooala combine with an offload from Lloyd for his second, before Watson rounded out the victory with a run back against the sliding Leigh defence for his brace. Lloyd was successful from the kicking tee as the Rhinos made a convincing start to the 2026 season.

Leopards U18s

1. Leyton Hull, 2. Noel Gardner-Lewis, 3. Ellis Thomas, 21. Rory Greenhalgh, 5. Jayden Greeley, 6. Coby Walker, 7. Noel Rafferty, 9. Layton Jupp, 9. Finlay Walker, 10. Joseph Meadows, 11. Mason Cotton, 12. James Nicholson, 13. Reece Galvin

Subs: 14. Ellis Carroll, 19. Oliver Sinnott, 16. Leon Stretton, 17. Dylan Abram (18^th Man: Isaac Baynham)

Tries: Hull (38)

Goals: Walker 0/1

Rhinos U18s

1. Liam Watson, 2. Tom Richardson, 3. Max Rhodes, 4. Jacob Tooala, 5. Sonny Hetherington, 6. Wade White, 7. Kai Irvine, 8. Robin Smith, 9. Harvey Butterworth, 10. Hughie Tinkler, 11. Zak Lloyd, 12. Jacob Hardy, 13. Brennan Townend

Subs: 14. Seth Marchant, 15. Will Wilkinson, 16. Cobi Ellis, 17. Dacx Jones-Buchanan (18^th Man – Ryan Hosier)

Tries: Butterworth (9), Hetherington (12, 24, 48, 66), Tooala (21, 76), Irvine (28), Richardson (35), Jones-Buchanan (46), Watson (55, 80), White (59)

Goals: Lloyd 7/12, Tooala 1/1