Hat tricks from Ash Handley and Richie Myler helped secure a 50-12 win over Salford Red Devils at Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The Rhinos opened the scoring after eleven minutes through Ash Handley. Leeds made the most a penalty in midfield to turn possession into points as Handley reacted quickly to a bouncing pass to collect and go over in the corner. Rhyse Martin was unable to add the conversion from the touchline but the Rhinos were led 4-0.

The Rhinos doubled their lead after 16 minutes when a smart cross field kick from Luke Gale was caught by Richie Myler for the full back to score against his former club. Martin made no mistake this time and made it 10-0.

Leeds made their momentum count with a third try in the next set. Some hard running but the Leeds back line gained them vital yardage up field before Rob Lui went through a gap and found Luke Gale in support for the skipper to go over between the posts. Martin added the conversion to increase his side’s lead to 16-0.

Richard Agar’s side went close twice to increasing their lead. Harry Newman had a score disallowed when he collected a kick on the Salford line only for the referee to adjudge a knock on in the build up before Liam Sutcliffe was unfortunate not to score a well deserved score as he spun out of the tackle but just lost his grip on the ball as he tried to touch it down.

However, the Rhinos did extend their lead with two more tries before the break. Myler scored his second as he won the race to touch down Handley through kick before the winger was the beneficiary of Gale’s cross field to collect and score. Martin converted both tries to give Leeds a 26-0 lead at the break.

Salford managed to cut the gap with two tries from full back Niall Evalds at the start of the second half but the Rhinos soon got back on track when Rob Lui spotted a gap from short range and went through to score.

Leeds then crossed for a fantastic solo try from Mikolaj Oledzki as the young prop bumped off the attempted tackle and raced in from 30 metres out.

The Rhinos then wrapped up the win with Myler and Handley both completing their hat tricks in great style. Myler finished off a flowing team move as the Rhinos kept the ball alive on the last tackle before Handley benefitted from quick thinking by Liam Sutcliffe. The centre, starting in place of Konrad Hurrell who was injured, collected a Salford before drawing the defender and offloading one handed to Handley to race 65 metres to score. Martin converted both to bring up the half century in a 50-12 win.