Leeds (22) 46
Try: McDonnell, Sivo 2, Hankinson, Ward 2, Croft, Newman Goals: connor 7
York (6) 14
Try: Vaughan, Thompson, Galeano Goals: Harris
Leeds Rhinos gave newcomers York a harsh lesson in Super League quality with an eight-try thrashing of newly promoted Knights at Headingley.
Facing each other for the first time since 1995, York, who shocked champions Hull KR in their first match, competed well in the first half hour, with the score level at 6-6 thanks to tries from James McDonnell for Leeds and Paul Vaughan for York.
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But two tries in three minutes from Maika Sivo and Ryan Hall put Brad Arthur’s side away, before Chris Hankinson gave the Rhinos a comfortable 22-6 lead at the first-half buzzer.
The hosts scored quickly after the restart through the veteran Hall again, before more tries from Brodie Croft, Harry Newman and another from the irrepressible Sivo gave Leeds their first win of the Super League campaign in front of a raucous home crowd.
York head coach Mark Applegarth will have been well aware of the challenge the top flight would pose for his team, but this was clearly evidenced by the composure and ruthlessness of Leeds’ attacking outfits.
At times they overcame with sheer brute force, epitomized by Sivo, who scored two tries in his first game in a year with hard-hitting carries.
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Hall, who scored the 348th and 349th tries of his career, showed the experience and guile required at this level, scoring one try in one fluid move and, with the second, sprinting 45 meters to run from an interception.
Jordan Thompson scored a try for York in his 200th appearance, and Scott Galeano departed late in the game.
However, this was a performance that highlighted Leeds’ potential this season, following an opening weekend defeat to Leigh Leopards.
They will hope to take the efficiency and quality of their performance to Las Vegas next week as they prepare to take on last season’s treble winners Hull KR.
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‘It gives us something to work on’ – Arthur
Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur told BBC Radio Leeds:
“I’m very happy for 75 minutes, but I want us to be ruthless with five minutes left. We should have scored another try, but in the end we conceded a soft one.
“Our defense this year is not where it needs to be. The tries they’ve scored against us haven’t been good enough, we’re not making them work hard enough. But it’s only the second round, it gives us something to work on.
“I’m really happy with our start, it was very professional. We got some good points, we kept chasing the game the way we wanted, we were physical and our effort was really good.
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“We have to have something to work on from the beginning of the piece, don’t we?”
‘We learned a little lesson’ – York reaction
York Knights head coach Mark Applegarth told BBC Radio York:
“I thought Leeds were excellent, we knew they were going to respond after (the defeat) last week, but I thought they had taught us a little lesson, if I’m completely frank.
“We started the game well, but then consecutive attempts really cost us, and Leeds are probably the best team in the league when they play on the front foot like that.
“There were some really good things to achieve after next week, but we knew we were going to have an up-and-down year, we weren’t going to get 23 wins in a row like we did last year.
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“We knew we were going to make some decent highs and some pretty painful losses, and this was definitely it, and we need to learn a lesson quickly about how to respond the right way.”
Leeds: Miller, Sivo, Newman, Hankinson, Hall, Croft, Connor, Jenkins, Levi, Holroyd, McDonnell, Watkins, Smith
Exchanges: O’Connor, Palasia, Mata’utia, O’Neill
York: Mataafa, Jones-Bishop, Wood, Buchanan, Galeano, Williams, Harris, Va’a, McShane, Vaughan, Griffin, Field, Thompson
Exchanges: Balmforth, Martin, Sangare, Vuniyayawa
Referee: Jaime Vella.