Ryan Hall sets Leeds Rhinos charging towards Wembley

Leeds look to be recapturing the form which has taken them to three successive Super League titles following this comprehensive victory over Hull in the fourth round of the Challenge Cup. The Rhinos, almost back to full strength, ruthlessly exploited some woeful defending from the home side and will fancying their chances of a return to Wembley for the first time since 1999. Brian McClennan, the Leeds coach, said: "It was a pretty good performance for a lot of the game, we scored some nice tries and defended well especially at the start of the second half when Hull had a lot of ball by our line. It's probably the best we've defended this year." Surprisingly, there was little to choose between the sides in the opening 20 minutes, Hull taking the lead when Tom Briscoe touched down a grubber kick from Willie Manu. Leeds hit back when Carl Ablett ploughed through some weak tackling to score with Kevin Sinfield converting and then adding a penalty. A try from Jordan Tansey, converted by Danny Tickle, edged them 10-8 ahead but then it all began to go spectacularly wrong for the home side. Ablett exploited more weak tackling to send in Brent Webb then Ian Kirke blasted over for another with Sinfield converting both. Hull began to implode with Tansey running out of defence and then attempting a crazy offload that landed in the arms of Keith Senior, who sent Ryan Hall over in the corner. Just before half-time the Rhinos kept the ball alive brilliantly for Hall to collect his second and Sinfield made it 32-10 at the break with the conversion. Hull put the Leeds line under pressure at the start of the second half but they were unable to take advantage. The Rhinos swept upfield where Hall collected his hat-trick to snuff out any hopes of a Hull revival. Tries by Richard Whiting and Jordan Turner, the latter converted by Craig Fitzgibbon, gave the scoreline a hint of respectability for the home side but inbetween Webb claimed his second and then Hall his fourth with Sinfeld converting both. However, the most bizarre sight of the afternoon was the diminutive Leeds scrum-half Rob Burrow being sent to the sin bin for fighting with Hull's giant Tongan Epalahame Lauaki. The Hull coach, Richard Agar, felt that his side did not handle the pressure Leeds exerted towards the end of the first half. "We needed to weather it out a little bit better than what we did and a couple of the tries were pretty unacceptable," he said.