Hull FC 22 Leeds Rhinos 38: Cup loss highlights challenge for owner Pearson

Leeds Rhinos may not go on and end their 12-year wait for Carnegie Challenge Cup glory this season and they remain outsiders to return for a Grand Final spot.

But in dragging themselves back into yesterday’s quarter-final and eventually over-running the Airlie Birds they showed all the wherewithal and composure of a side that has been a long-term member of Super League’s elite.

Incoming Hull FC owner Pearson took over at the KC Stadium on Friday and pledged to invest the money to help the East Yorkshire club rise to such heights. It remains clear they are currently some way off.

Having taken a commanding 16-6 interval lead, in which they dominated more than the scoreline suggested, Hull must have thought Pearson’s arrival would see them end their horrendous nine-match losing streak against the Rhinos.

They were unrecognisable to the error-strewn side that lost 20-0 in Super League at Leeds a week earlier, showing a real willingness to successfully move the ball around the park and causing their opponents genuine problems with the pace of their play.

However, a nightmare spell at the start of the second period, when their discipline disappeared, saw them capitulate, conceding three tries in just 11 minutes as they barely touched the ball.

There has rarely been a better sign of how a game can turn in an instant than when the otherwise excellent Cameron Phelps spilled Willie Manu’s pass in the 45th minute.

If the Hull full-back had held on, he would surely have raced in to increase their half-time advantage and put his side on course for a semi-final spot.

Instead, it went to ground for Kevin Sinfield – who later broke Lewis Jones’s 47-year old club goal-kicking record – to send Ben Jones-Bishop racing down the touchline and, although Manu brilliantly got back to twice tackle the winger, Leeds scored later in the same set through a barging Ali Lauitiiti.

Back-to-back penalties then saw Sinfield and Danny McGuire combine, the latter shrugging off a shooting Kirk Yeaman to shove a pass out to Brett Delaney who cut back to score.

Danny Tickle committed the cardinal sin of kicking the re-start dead, inviting more pressure which was compounded when Sam Moa was penalised further – albeit dubiously – for ripping possession off McGuire.

Sinfield slotted the 53rd-minute penalty to surpass the legendary Jones’s massive 1,244 total and he added another conversion to make it 24-16 when Carl Ablett twisted out of Jordan Turner’s meek tackle in the 56th minute.

Hull were dumbfounded. When Mark O’Meley spilled more ball to increase their woe, Ryan Bailey thought he had scored his first try in four years on the hour mark but video referee Ian Smith ruled the Leeds prop was just short.

Jaded Hull finally won some possession – Steve Ganson had awarded a raft of successive penalties against them – and a cleverly-disgusied short pass from Sam Obst saw Joe Westerman hold off Lauitiiti to stretch over.

Tickle converted but their hopes of a comeback were quickly extinguished when Ablett crossed for his second on 70 minutes after Burrow and Webb combined to pierce more fragile fringe defence.

Sinfield added another conversion from touch and a 77th-minute penalty but Hull still had time for Turner to cross.

However, Danny Buderus dislodged the ball as the young centre touched down just to rub it in and, with seconds remaining, Jones-Bishop intercepted Manu’s pass to run in his second, Sinfield, fittingly, completing the victory.

Expansive Hull had had all the early running with Yeaman – making his 250th appearance for the club and one of four survivors from the 2005 Challenge Cup final team that defeated Leeds – letting Rhinos off the hook in the third minute, spilling with the line at his mercy.

The visitors’ kicking game had been ineffectual in the opening quarter, gifting Hull easy starts to their sets and leading to Obst’s splendid 16th-minute opener.

The ex-Wakefield scrum-half stepped past Buderus and then Brett Webb for a fine solo effort which Tickle converted and Turner crossed for their second soon after following an interception from Whiting.

Composed Hull did not make a mistake until the 24th munute but a needless forward pass from Danny Houghton saw them pay immediately as Jones-Bishop produced a stunning one-handed finish in the corner although the defending of both Tom Briscoe and Phelps was negligable.

Sinfield slotted from the touchline but Hull struck again when Turner added his second in the 39th minute, Westerman illustrating his growing creative influence with a skilled assist.

They should have pushed on to win but, as Sinfield took charge, had no answer to Leeds’s greater authority and resolve, something Pearson must address if he wants to fulfil that ambition.

Hull: Phelps, Whiting, Turner, Yeaman, T. Briscoe, Horne, Obst, O’Meley, Houghton, Moa, Manu, Tickle, Westerman. Substitutes: Lauaki, Dowes, Sharp, Radford.

Leeds: Webb, Jones-Bishop, Delaney, Ablett, Hall, Sinfield, McGuire, Bailey, Buderus, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Hauraki, Clarkson. Substitutes: Burrow, Leuluai, Lauitiiti, Kirke.

Referee: S Ganson (England).