Leeds Rhinos celebrated James Donaldson’s testimonial game with a 26-18 result against Hull KR in the final friendly of 2024.

Although it was a slow start, the Rhinos hit top gear in the second period as they scored three consecutive tries, capped by a brilliant effort from Brodie Croft on his first outing.

The visitors dominated the first half on the scoreboard and with possession, whilst the Rhinos struggled with repetitive penalties. It only took the Robins a matter of minutes to open the scoring, after Andy Ackers fumbled the ball to end a promising Leeds attack. Moving towards the try line, Mikey Lewis and Tyrone May helped spread the ball wide for Peta Hiku to find a gap in the edge of the Rhinos’ and touch down.

Leeds provided a swift response through Lachlan Miller, who was full of energy throughout the entire game. Luis Roberts came close to penetrating the Hull KR defence on the right but as the play switched across the field, good footwork from Brodie Croft got the better of the Robins defensive line and the half back found Miller in support to slide over and bring the score to within two points.

Even after conceding, the visitors continued to apply pressure on the Rhinos line thanks to penalties against the home side and repeat sets in the Leeds half of the field. Ryan Hall put down a big chance as Hiku looked to expose Leeds’ edge again but the winger didn’t catch the ball cleanly and let it slip to the turf. Jai Whitbread did make the break through when he rumbled onto a flat pass at the line and carried his way over to extend Hull KR’s lead to 12-4.

Justin Sangare’s sin-binning with 10 minutes left in the half, due to repeatedly incurring penalties, didn’t help Leeds’ cause but some resilient defending kept the Robins from adding more points. In attack, Harry Newman thought he had pulled a try back, but the referees pulled the centre up for losing the ball on the way to grounding it as the teams entered the half time break with the score at 12-4.

Much like the Boxing Day win over Wakefield, Leeds came to life in the second half to bring the result home for the man of the moment, James Donaldson.

Three minutes into the new half, substitute Leon Ruan made a breakthrough as Leeds capitalised off another error by former player Hall. Captain Cameron Smith and Mikolaj Oledzki took the ball close, before Smith posted Ruan between three defenders to crash over for a game-breaking try.

With the wind in their sails, Miller got to show the Rhinos fans how quick he is as he scooped up a loose kick on the last tackle and sprinted away downfield to set Leeds up again. Keeping the pressure on the Robins’ try line, it soon cracked when quick hands put Ned McCormack in space and the youngster wasn’t going to miss his opportunity to add to the Leeds tally. Rhyse Martin added the conversion to take the score to 16-12 and give the Rhinos their first lead of the match.

The tries kept coming as the game approached the hour mark as another youngster, Morgan Gannon, added his name to the scorers as he latched onto a clever grubber kick through from Croft. The Headingley crowd was quickly back up on its feet seconds later as Croft put the game to bed with a try of his own. The initial break by Tom Nicholson-Watton saw the prop look for support as he moved to within range of Hull KR’s Hiku, but a calm pass for Croft saw the half back finish the race to the try line for a great score. Martin’s conversion made it 26-12.

Louix Gorman fought back for the Robins to get their sole try of the half, but it was the Rhinos who celebrated Donaldson’s occasion with a win.

Now all eyes are on the Betfred Super League opener in under a fortnight’s time when the Rhinos clash with Salford Red Devils at AMT Headingley on Friday 16^th February.

Rhinos

1. Lachlan Miller, 5. Ash Handley, 24. Luis Roberts, 3. Harry Newman, 19. Derrell Olpherts, 6. Brodie Croft, 7. Matt Frawley, 8. Mikolaj Oledzki, 9. Andy Ackers, 25. James Donaldson, 20. Morgan Gannon, 12. Rhyse Martin, 13. Cameron Smith

Subs: 21. Jack Sinfield, 17. Justin Sangare, 14. Jarrod O’Connor, 26. Corey Johnson, 23. Leon Ruan, 11. Ben Littlewood, 2. Ned McCormack, 4. Fergus McCormack, 16. Riley Lumb, 30. Tom Nicholson-Watton, 18. Jack Smith

Tries: Miller (10), Ruan (44), N.McCormack (52), Gannon (55), Croft (57)

Goals: Martin 3/4

Sin Bin: Sangare

Hull KR

1. Peta Hiku, 2. Niall Evalds, 3. Tom Opacic, 4. Oliver Gildart, 5. Ryan Hall, 27. Tyrone May, 7. Mikey Lewis, 11. Dean Hadley, 24. Reiss Butterworth, 16. Jai Whitbread, 21. Corey Hall, 12. James Batchelor, 13. Elliot Minchella

Subs: 8. Suaso Sue, 9. Jez Litten, 10. George King, 17. Matty Storton, 19. Yusuf Aydin, 23. Louis Senior, 28. Zach Fishwick, 29. Louix Gorman, 30. Leo Tennison

Tries: Hiku (1), Whitbread (23), Gorman (59)

Goals: Hiku 3/3