Super League: Ryan Hall stars as Leeds thrash rivals Bradford
Ryan Hall scored a hat-trick of tries to help Leeds crush Bradford 46-6 in a one-sided derby at the Provident Stadium.
Last Updated: 17/04/14 11:35pm
The Bulls simply never recovered from conceding four tries in the opening 14 minutes and they remain stuck at the foot of the Super League standings, still yet to wipe out their six-point deduction following a spell in administration.
England international Hall was amongst those to cross early on for the Rhinos, while he touched down twice in a five-minute spell in the second half as the visitors piled on the points.
Rob Burrow grabbed their ninth and final try in the last minute of his 400th appearance, with Zak Hardaker adding the conversion with Kevin Sinfield off the field.
The Leeds skipper was given the chance to rest up ahead of another fixture on Easter Monday as his side had wrapped up the two points by the hour mark.
Burrow led the away team out to mark his milestone but it was his old half-back partner Danny McGuire who sparked the visitors into life, dribbling the ball into space for Sinfield to score after three minutes.
Hall then combined superbly with Joel Moon to get the Australian over for a try and his centre partner returned the favour shortly afterwards.
In between McGuire also got in on the act, jinking his way over for a solo try and with Sinfield kicking two conversions, the Rhinos were quickly 20-0 to the good.
Struggling
Bradford were struggling to get their hands on the ball but did manage to put points on the board when an attacking kick from Hardaker led to Lee Gaskell going over at the other end after a 90-metre sprint that saw him just evade Kallum Watkins.
Luke Gale added the conversion to make it 20-6 after 22 minutes and that was how it stayed for the rest of the first half as the home side demonstrated their battling spirit.
However there was no way back for the hosts once Hall touched down twice more, allowing Leeds coach Brian McDermott to withdraw Sinfield ahead of Monday's fixture with Salford.
Bradford missed a clear-cut scoring opportunity when Brett Kearney broke free from halfway only for the supporting Danny Bridge to drop the final pass with the line at his mercy.
Leeds were not so careless in attack, piling on the agony for a Bulls team without the services of Jamie Foster and former Rhino Matt Diskin.
Substitute Liam Sutcliffe, who spent a month on loan to Bradford earlier in the season, and Watkins went through a tiring defence for tries and Burrow fittingly got in on the act by supporting a break from Carl Ablett.