Two tries from man of the match Richie Myler and Jack Broadbent, plus further scores from Kruise Leeming, Tom Briscoe and Luke Gale, helped Leeds Rhinos beat Salford Red Devils 38-12 at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Having featured for England and the Combined Nations All Stars on Friday night, Luke Gale, Matt Prior, Mikolaj Oledzki and Kruise Leeming were all available for the match, with only Ash Handley missing out through a failed HIA he suffered against the All Stars, while there was a welcomed return for young prop Tom Holroyd, who made his first appearance of the season from the bench. Liam Sutcliffe and Zane Tetevano were unavailable meaning Leeming and Bodene Thompson replaced them in the starting thirteen.

Playing their first game for four weeks, there were early chances for Leeds to score the first points of the half but the Red Devils did well to keep the Rhinos at bay. The game suddenly came to life though on the twenty minute mark. Leeds were coming off the back of a great attacking set, that should have seen Myler open up space on the edge, but minutes later, as Konrad Hurrell was playing the ball, the centre to umbrage to Salford tackler Lee Mossop and as he ran to confront the prop, Mossop punched Hurrell and both teams came together. Referee Robert Hicks red carded Mossop as well as Leeds’ Bodene Thompson for running in and Hurrell was taken from the field after failing his HIA.

From the following penalty, Leeds opened the scoring through Jack Broadbent, who scored his third try of the season. Captain Luke Gale and Richie Myler combined really well but the Rhinos full back was unlucky not to score. After Matt Prior took the ball infield, Gale shaped back to the left side and found Myler, who put Broadbent in the corner.

Salford were soon down to eleven players when Jack Wells was sin binned for a dangerous tackle on Myler and Broadbent was unlucky not to score a second; the young winger dropping Gale’s looping ball. Shortly after, Tom Briscoe took advantage of a break through the heart of the Salford defence by Kruise Leeming allowing Leeds to catch the Red Devils unorganised and Briscoe to score in the corner. Martin missed his second attempt to make the score 10-0.

The opportunities kept coming for Leeds; Dwyer almost scoring from another great break but former Rhino Tui Lolohea stripped the ball and turned possession over. Even though the visitors had dominated since the yellow and red cards, the Red Devils got themselves back in the game with ten minutes left, Chris Atkin picking off a long pass from Gale to run the length of the field and score. A penalty against Tom Holroyd for stripping the ball prompted the Red Devils to add to their scoreline too as Dec Patton chose to kick a penalty goal.

With only two points separating the two sides as half time approached, Myler, who was in sensational form all afternoon, produced back to back tries to give the visitors some breathing room on the scoreboard. After the full back had stopped a certain try from Morgan Escare, the Rhinos were back on their opponents try line as Salford were called offside by referee Hicks. With Gale directing the traffic down the right edge of the field, Myler did well to cut back inside, bounce out of the attempted tackle of Matty Costello and reach out to get the ball down. After Martin had converted, Dwyer jinked out of dummy half and released Alex Mellor, who selflessly passed inside for Myler to streak away and cap off a brilliant first half performance for the Leeds full back. Martin converted as Leeds went into half time 22-8 up.

Three more tries from the Rhinos in the second half sealed another resounding result for Richard Agar’s side.  A scuffle at the start of the half saw Gale and Ryan Lannon sin binned but Leeds progressed forward nonetheless. After he stopped Salford from a fifth tackle kick, Broadbent managed to get over for his second try of the afternoon, thanks to quick thinking from substitute King Vuniyayawa. Moving down the field thanks to back to back penalties, Vuniyayawa produced a nice pass at the start of the new set to Tom Briscoe, who had the quick thinking to push the ball wide for Broadbent to finish easily.

With the game already out of sight, Kruise Leeming made sure Leeds would be taking the points home with his try just before the hour mark. The Red Devils were continuing to benefit from the Rhinos’ errors but couldn’t make their chances count and instead it was the visitors that came good; Prior producing a nice offload for his All Stars team mate Leeming to score and extend the lead to 24 points, Martin adding the conversion.

Former Rhinos Lolohea and Jack Ormondroyd connected to almost get Salford a second try but Lolohea’s final pass was forward, relieving the pressure on the visitors. On the break, Leeds pushed upfield before Myler put Briscoe through a nice gap and the centre managed to get the ball away for captain Gale to become his sides’ fifth different try scorer. Martin converted to make the score 38-8.

A good solo effort from Escare proved only a consolation effort for Richard Marshall’s side as Leeds saw the remaining minutes out to claim back to back league wins for the first time in 2021,