Leeds 34-16 Crusaders

Leeds (18) 34
Tries: Senior 2, Delaney, Ablett, Burrow, Leuluai Goals: Sinfield 5

Crusaders (0) 16
Tries: Tansey, Hanbury, Witt Goals: Schifcofske 2

McGuire had been out of action since the end of last season

Danny McGuire’s first game in seven months inspired Leeds to a 34-16 win over Crusaders in Super League XVI.

The stand-off appeared on 24 minutes and soon after Keith Senior, Carl Ablett and Brett Delaney ran in tries, all converted by Kevin Sinfield.

After the break Rob Burrow extended the Rhinos’ lead but Crusaders hit back with tries from Jordan Tansey, Michael Witt and Rhys Hanbury.

Senior then struck again and Kylie Leuluai’s try ended the contest.

McGuire’s introduction off the bench was greeted with a huge applause at Headingley and gave the Rhinos the impetus to score twice in three minutes.

First Delaney broke free and sprinted 70 metres to touch down after outstripping Crusaders captain Clinton Schifcofske, with Sinfield adding the first of five conversions.

Then Ablett exploited a hole in Crusaders’ defence to cross the whitewash with ease.

Senior ensured Leeds had a comfortable lead when he jinked his way over the line on the stroke of half time.

Shortly after the teams returned Burrow went in from dummy half and Sinfield kicked the home side to a 24-0 lead.

But former Leeds winger Tansey touched down on 53 minutes to give the Welsh outfit feint hope after latching on to Witt’s offload.

Witt intercepted Danny Buderus’ errant pass in the 66th minute – Schifcofske adding the first of his two conversions – before Hanbury took another errant Rhinos pass and sprinted half the length of the field.

Senior went over in the left corner before Leuluai’s converted try added a sheen to the Rhinos’ win at the death.

Leeds coach Brian McDermott:
“It was a calculated risk to play Danny McGuire in that game.

“I don’t think you can overestimate where he was at as a player last year when he had his knee snapped. There’s 20 of those types of injuries per year – there was lots and lots and lots of damage in there to everything.

“So for him to come back inside eight months, you’ve got to really look at the people who were in charge of him for that period of time.

“They’ve done an absolutely sensational job, it’s a wonder what they can do now with these players because you haven’t got to go too far back in history where’s he’s probably in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, never mind playing top-level rugby league.”

Crusaders coach Iestyn Harris:
“I thought we were a little bit unlucky. Jared Sammut tells me definitely scored from dummy half but we got penalised.

“That would have made it 6-0 and Leeds would have shown a bit of agitation off the back of that because the crowd was starting to get a little bit agitated that they couldn’t get on the top of us for large periods.

“After that, Leeds had a period of 10 minutes where they just completed.

“They got to their kicks, they pushed us in the corner and started to win the territory and that’s the time that they scored the 18 points.

“We just had a little bit too far to come but the guys showed a lot of effort there and a little bit more composure, we’ll start to get teams like Leeds.”

Leeds: Webb, Elliot, Delaney, Senior, Hall, Sinfield, Burrow, Bailey, Buderus, Leuluai, Jones-Buchanan, Clarkson, Ablett.

Replacements: Kirke, McShane, Burgess, McGuire.

Crusaders: Schifcofske, Reardon, Martin, Thomas, Tansey, Witt, Hanbury, O’Hara, White, Moore, Cahill, Johnson, Lupton.

Replacements: Sammut, Chan, Winternstein, James.

Referee: James Child (Dewsbury)