Rhinos misery continues
Shaun Briscoe was among the try-scorers as Hull KR beat Leeds 17-10 to earn their first win at Headingley in 25 years.
Last Updated: 19/03/10 10:38pm
Robins score first victory at Headingley in 25 years
Hull KR have scored a 17-10 Super League win at Leeds - their first such at Headingley in 25 years as the Rhinos' miserable start to the season continues.
Tries from Liam Colbon, Peter Fox and Shaun Briscoe gave the Robins a 16-6 half-time lead and although Leeds managed to reduce the deficit to six points with a second-half try from Keith Senior, the visitors held on for a memorable win.
The result means that, having now lost four of their seven matches this season, the defending champions - who are clearly missing skipper Kevin Sinfield's kicking game - stand eighth in the table.
Brian McClennan's side opened the scoring, however, and despite all the pre-match talk of how home debutants Michael Coady and Chris Clarkson might fare, it was old head Jamie Jones-Buchanan who crossed.
With just seconds on the clock, a Michael Dobson kick was patted down by the onrushing Jones-Buchanan who, with no defenders to beat, cantered over from 20 metres out.
Flat
Rob Burrow kicked the extras for 6-0 but in spite of their lead, the Rhinos looked flat going forward.
The visitors made them pay after 22 minutes when Kris Welham took the ball on at speed, sold a dummy to his opposing centre on the outside and passed to Colbon, who squeezed over in the far corner.
Dobson missed the conversion attempt but found the target when the Robins scored their second try just four minutes later - Jake Webster leaving Senior for dead before slinging the ball inside for Fox to run under the sticks.
Rovers could have had a third - and in some style - shortly after when Briscoe raced a full 80 metres only to be stopped in his tracks after a fine chase and tackle from Burrow.
Briscoe was not to be denied, however, and a poor opening period for the champions was sealed when he beat Ali Lauitiiti to Dobson's clever grubber kick to touch down for another converted score.
Leeds continued to struggle for inspiration immediately after the break, although Welham's late tackle on Danny McGuire handed them the platform from which to build after 47 minutes.
A well-worked set followed, with the ball being played wide by the backs and both Burrow and Webb taking hits before Senior charged for the corner.
Burrow missed a difficult conversion, though, with Dobson missing a penalty for the Robins minutes later.
Handling errors
The second half was of a poor quality, with the Rhinos making numerous handling errors - their current situation summed up by try-scoring chance which instead resulted in a Luke Burgess knock-on.
Leeds' frustrations boiled over when an altercation between McGuire and Michael Vella sparked a brawl in the closing minutee, with a late Dobson drop-goal completing Rovers' win.
