Hull Escape With A Draw

A last-second penalty goal from Steve Prescott gave Hull a 10-all draw with Leeds Rhinos at Headingley on Saturday evening.

Francis Cummins was penalised for accidental offside by referee Steve Ganson, allowed Prescott to hold his nerve and earn the visitors a point.

The Airlie Birds had the better of the early exchanges in the wet conditions, and went in front after ten minutes.

Tony Smith's 40-20 gave them the field position for Richard Horne and Sean Ryan to combine and send Colin Best in at the corner, Steve Prescott goaling from the touchline.

Leeds themselves were looking to utilise the greasy surface with attempts at 40-20 kicks, although Danny McGuire and Andrew Dunemann were just short.

Hull lost Smith on the 20-minute mark, the scrum half suffering what later emerged as a broken leg in an attempted tackle, in only his second game back from a shoulder problem.

But they moved 8-0 up through a Prescott penalty shortly afterwards, Leeds having been penalised for accidental offside after Mark Calderwood's knock on landed in Kevin Sinfield's arms.

The Rhinos continued to dominate field position early in the second period, but it was only a repeat set after Prescott kicked dead a Dunemann grubber which saw them finally breach the Hull line.

It was a Sinfield kick on the last which did the damage, a sliding Horne unable to collect and allowing Willie Poching to collect and touch down, although Sinfield missed the conversion attempt.

The Rhinos' pressure continued after another Sinfield kick forced Horne to concede a drop out, with Matt Diskin and Matt Adamson sending Chris McKenna over out wide on the hour.

Sinfield was again unable to add the extras, leaving the scores locked at 8-all, but the Rhinos were on a roll, with Dave Furner being pushed back from over the line before Prescott again collected a kick in-goal.

A penalty against Chris Chester allowed Sinfield to get himself off the mark and edge Leeds ahead 10-8 with a quarter of an hour remaining.

Calderwood's kick chase forced Horne into an error with five minutes remaining, but Senior was unable to collect on the left as Leeds searched for a try to seal the win.

But they were unable to add to their tally before Cummins collected a Senior knock-down from an offside position in the final minute.

Prescott kept his nerve to land the kick, meaning that Leeds' unbeaten run continues but Hull keep up the pressure at the head of the table.

Rhinos coach Daryl Powell disagreed with the decision, but felt that a draw was a fair result.

"To me it was a clear error," he said. "It was a close game, but you're talking about the referee and not the athletes out there.

"They had the best of the first half but we managed to turn it around."

Hull director of rugby Shaun McRae revealed afterwards that Smith had suffered a broken leg, and he is the 26th player from their first team and Senior Academy to be sidelined through injury.

The draw is Hull's second in three games, after allowing a 26-8 lead to slip at Castleford a fortnight ago

Leeds 10 Tries: Poching McKenna Goals:Sinfield

Hull 10 Tries: Best Goals: Prescott 3