In Leeds Rhinos’ final home outing before the Challenge Cup Final the club continued its recent efforts of bucking the trend and introducing new initiatives by devoting tonight’s game against Widnes Vikings to promoting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) cause. LS Sport’s Andrew Belt reports from Headingley…

Following hot on the heels of becoming the first Rugby League club to print Twitter handles on their shirts for the Hull FC game and giving the proceeds from the away following to the troubled Bradford Bulls, the marketing department moved to raise awareness and support for the LGBT community.

Limited edition polo shirts were sold in anticipation of the game bearing the LGBT rainbow and, as the home fans belted out ‘Marching On Together’, the anthem could not have been more apt for the inclusive feel of the night; Rhinos openly confronting an issue the football powers refuse to acknowledge.

Also aiming to buck the trend were the Widnes Vikings who lay 13th in the standings and are in danger of picking up the ‘wooden spoon’ should the London Broncos dare to charge up the table. However, whilst the LGBT flavour blended seamlessly into the proceedings, Widnes’ own efforts didn’t go quite so smoothly.

Leeds racked up twelve tries as they went about dismantling the Widnes Vikings 68-24 in front of 13, 326 spectators on a perfect Wembley send-off for the Yorkshire club. Ryan Bailey was the first to get his name on the scoresheet as he wriggled his way over the line in the sixth minute before Ryan Hall finished off a move he started in the tenth minute and Shaun Lunt got a short-range try a couple of minutes later after Danny McGuire’s 20-metre run.

Kevin Sinfield converted each try with aplomb to give Leeds an 18-0 advantage. The Rhinos’ march was briefly tempered when Stefan Marsh proved too slippery to tackle on his way to Widnes’ first try. Patrick Ah Van kicked the first of four goals but Leeds were hungry for more and Ben Jones-Bishop hurt the Widnes defence once more, running into the vast space afforded to him on the right wing before offloading to Zak Hardaker to reassert their three-try lead. Ian Kirke was next to drive the Rhinos forward and when he was felled, as well as Lunt and Hardaker, Richard Moore slammed past the Widnes back-line to land the points for himself.

Leeds racked up twelve tries as they went about dismantling the Widnes Vikings

In the 29th minute, Leeds produced a wonderfully-crafted try as Sinfield darted forward and flung the ball behind his back as he was being tackled to allow McGuire the time to execute a neat grubber kick for Hall to pin down over the line. Sinfield missed the kick, scoring 10 goals from 12 efforts, on yet another excellent appearance for the captain. Widnes rallied enough to retrieve six points through Frank Winterstein’s try from Rhys Hanbury’s assist and Ah Van’s conversion.

The final say of the half went to Leeds as McGuire and Sinfield again combined to send Brett Delaney over for his first try of the night as the Rhinos went in leading 40-12 at the break. Dancers more accustomed to performing at gay parades provided the half-time entertainment as Headingley went into party mode following the showboat-esque quality of the home side’s first-half display. Widnes had looked far out of their comfort zone and, if the Vikings could conquer York in the Championship, then a successful invasion of Leeds in the Super League was looking a nigh-on impossible task.

Widnes, however, went on to have their best spell of the game in the opening 20 minutes of the second-half as Cameron Phelps dived over the line and Marsh added his second try following Willie Isa’s storming run down the left-hand side of Leeds’ midfield. Ah Van completed the scores to give the Vikings some hope of clawing their way back into the game from a 40-24 position. The unlikely comeback was scuppered after a superb kick up the field from Sinfield put Leeds on the front foot and McGuire was unfairly impeded by Kurt Haggerty, who was shown the yellow card and sin-binned for 10 minutes.

Leeds sauntered to their highest league victory since 2009

This show of ill-discipline was costly as Darrell Griffin immediately secured a try for Leeds, clattering into the padding on the post on his way to touching down. Kylie Leuluai secured another try before Haggerty was re-admitted onto the field but more concerning for the Rhinos was a knee injury suffered by McGuire which had him limp off the field and dominated Brian McDermott’s thoughts in the post-match interview.

Stevie Ward, Hardaker and Jimmy Keinhorst, notching his first ever Super League try, furthered the advantage as Leeds sauntered to their highest league victory since 2009. Rhinos will now turn their attentions to next week’s top four trial in France, against Catalan Dragons, where a victory would lift Leeds into the comfort of the top four Play-Off places.

The Champions proved that they can put on a show once again on an evening when Leeds Rhinos emphasised that they are proud to stand out and be different, both on and off the pitch.

Words: Andrew Belt