Hull FC Edge Out Leeds In Yorkshire Derby Thriller
ByMatthew Cresswell
BBC Sport England
22 March 2026
206 Comments
Hull FC (14) 24
Tries: Arthur, Sao, Litten Goals: Hardaker 6
Leeds (16) 16
Tries: McDonnell, Croft Goals: Connor 4
Hull FC edged out Leeds Rhinos in a pulsating Yorkshire derby to claim their 2nd victory of the Super League season.
An exceptional first 40 minutes provided 30 points as both sides took it in turns to take the lead.
Tries from Jake Arthur, Ligi Sao and Davy Litten - as well as 6 kicks from Zak Hardaker - meant the Black and Whites took the two points.
Carbon-copy shots from James McDonnell and Brodie Croft within the area of 6 minutes pushed the Rhinos into a narrow half-time lead however Hull FC locked out their opponents after the break to go out deserving winners.
After Jake Connor kicked Leeds in front after 5 minutes, a beautiful line break from Hull's James Bell enabled him to unselfishly established Arthur to dive below the sticks and score against the side his dad coaches.
Leeds then kicked the restart out on the complete, for which Hull moved into Rhinos territory, and evasive play from Amir Bourouh at dummy half enabled Ligi Sao to crash over from for his first Super League try in 2 years.
The Rhinos' discipline let them down when dissent towards referee Liam Moore enabled a kick within range, and Hardaker included 2 more points as the visitors' deficit increased to 12 points after simply 17 minutes.
But Rhinos were back in the contest eight minutes later on when an inch-perfect kick from Lachie Miller found McDonnell on the move to dot down in front of the visiting supporters.
A spectacular diving catch from Miller then continued a streaming move as McDonnell wanted to get a second try in a few minutes, but he was stopped on the line by excellent scrambling defence from Hull.
Another fragile kick - this time from Ash Handley - then discovered Croft in space to dot down next to the sticks, and by the time Connor had added the bonus the rating was level at 14-14.
A superb ankle-tap deal with from Cade Cust stopped Chris Hankinson in his tracks but after referee Moore had punished the hosts for a high take on in the build-up, Connor kicked Rhinos in front 2 minutes before the break from the right touchline.
Just 60 seconds after half-time, Leeds' Maika Sivo was punished for securing the marker and Hardaker slotted over to level the match as soon as more.
And Hull edged themselves back in front moments later on when Hardaker kicked a 5th objective in front of the sticks.
The home side extended their lead when John Asiata's stunning grubber kick was collected on the bounce by Litten to dot down and Hardaker's sixth effective kick made it a two-score match.
With 5 minutes staying, Connor started an effort to bring the match to within a transformed try - however the ball struck the upright and bounced to security as the home side hung on in front of more than 12,000 fans to declare triumph.
'A little bit of a reality-check' - post-match reaction
Hull FC manager John Cartwright informed BBC Radio Humberside:
"They're an actually hazardous side to bet.
"So, bit nervous going into the game, however I knew that we prepared well - there were a couple of missteps throughout the week however we had a great session Thursday.
"Courage is a prerequisite in any video game at this level. Sometimes, you require to reveal a little bit more courage than normal and I thought we did that today.
"Effort-wise and grit-wise, we competed well. We did the fundamentals a lot much better than we've been doing, and that's the structure of your game. We need to do that 9 times out of 10 now."
Leeds Rhinos employer Brad Arthur informed BBC Radio Leeds:
"A bit of a reality-check isn't it? Basically, we're not as excellent as we believe we are. Some of that ill-discipline is not what I desire our club to be about and become part of.
"It was quite awkward, a few of the discipline in the 2nd half. A great deal of blokes simply desire to speak about the referee instead of doing their own task. Not great enough.
"It's truly disappointed me. We need to get to the bottom of it [the ill-discipline] and find that out on Tuesday [when the players go back to training]
"What's changed? We worked out in Vegas. So what? We require to accept some responsibility and throw down the gauntlet."
Hull FC: Hardaker; Briscoe, Romano, Litten, Martin; Cust, Arthur; Hill, Bourouh, Sao, Bell, Bailey, Asiata.
Interchanges: C Kemp, Fash, Laidlaw, Lisone.
Leeds: Miller; Sivo, Newman, Handley, Hankinson; Croft, Connor; Oledzki, Levi, Palasia, Watkins, McDonnell, C. Smith.
Interchanges: Holroyd, Jenkins, O'Connor, Bird.
Referee: Liam Moore.
Hull FC
Leeds Rhinos