By Guy Harvey

Mark Butterill’s scholarship side returned to action after a short break and although the weather conditions weren’t the most suited for rugby league, both sides did their best to play expansive rugby.

The visitors certainly began the game with more enthusiasm than the Rhinos and took advantage after an early error from Leeds allowed the Giants possession in a dangerous position and they scored after a kick to the corner was won in the air by winger Harvey Baker. The visitors extended their lead moments later when full back Lewis Jagger capitalised on another Leeds error, taking the play the ball in the middle of the field before moving it to the left edge where Jagger charged over to score, making it 8-0.

The rain really began to pour down and made keeping hold of the ball a difficult task, with both sides struggling to complete sets. But it was the Rhinos that hit back just shy of the half hour mark, with winger Sam Oldroyd squeezing over in the corner after quick hands from his team mates gave him the opportunity. Leeds then put themselves ahead two minutes later when hooker Harvey Butterworth crashed over from close range and with Zak Lloyd converting both tries, Leeds had 12-8 lead to take in to half time.

Leeds came out for the second half and made no mistakes of ensuring they continued where they left off in the first half. It took only two minutes for Cobi Ellis to score, after three big drives down the middle of the field from the Rhinos pack put them in Huddersfield half before Ellis broke through and went over for the try, taking a couple of Huddersfield defenders with him. Leeds was really dominated the game from there on in as Ellis doubled his try tally two minutes later after spotting an overlap on the left edge. Butterworth and Kai Irvine combined well to get the ball out to Ellis quickly, however Ellis didn’t need the extra man and threw the dummy pass to fool the defence and crash over for the try.

Midway through the second half the visitors hit back, Evan Jones crashing over from close range in the wet conditions and Woody Potter knocked over the conversion to make the score 24-14 to make the last twenty minutes a nervy affair. With only eight minutes of the game left, Leeds extended their lead when hooker Butterworth went from dummy half and looked to be held up over the try line but somehow managed to get an offload to the waiting Lloyd who had the easy task of diving over for the try untouched. He also converted his own try to push the score to 30-14 with minutes left. 

However, Leeds wasn’t finished there. With the final whistle seconds away, Butterworth took it upon himself to look for another try. Going himself from dummy half, the hooker put in the grabber kick that looked to be going dead, but Butterworth won the race and managed to ground the ball. With Lloyd off the field, Jack Mears took the conversion and pushed the final score to 36-14. 

Leeds Rhinos Scholarship

1. Mason Peach, 2.Luke Fagan, 3. Jacob Tooala, 4. Tom Richardson, 5. Sam Oldroyd, 6. Jack Mears, 7. Kai Irvine, 8. Dacx Jones-Buchanan, 9. Harvey Butterworth, 10. Logan Staveley-Carr, 11. Zak Lloyd, 12. Cobi Ellis, 13. Jacob Hardy

14. Will Mathers, 15. Daniel Stelfox, 16. James Rowney, 17. Harry Thompson, 18. Caleb Rhodes, 19. Will Hunter, 20. Brennan Townend

Huddersfield Giants Scholarship

1. Lewis Jagger, 2. Austin Byrne, 3. Bailey Regan, 4. Daniel Shepherd, 5. Alfie Farrar, 6. Jack Twigg, 7. Woody Potter, 8. Stanley Hobson, 9. Charlie Newton, 10. Finley Gale, 11. Harvey Barker, 12. Finley Watson, 13. Alfie Merta

14. Aaron Lyne, 15. Evan Jones, 16. Lewis Bottomley, 17. Connor Hanson, 18. Reuben Tetteh, 19. Jack Martyn, 20. Dylan Hall