Challenge Cup Preview

LEEDS RHINOS will be expecting a backlash when they double up against Hull on Sunday.

Rhinos will visit KC Stadium for a Carnegie Challenge Cup quarter-final, nine days after a 20-0 win saw them leapfrog the East Yorkshire side in the Engage Super League table.

Leeds ran in three unanswered tries in Friday’s win, scoring 14 of their points in the final 12 minutes.

It was their first victory in four matches and extended their winning run against Hull to nine games.

Rhinos’ last defeat by the Black and Whites was in September, 2007, but centre/back-rower Carl Ablett accepts they will need to step up a level to continue that hot streak in this weekend’s BBC-televised tie.

“It is a knock-out competition and everyone seems to raise their game that extra 10 per cent,” Ablett, said.

“You very rarely get a team that plays badly in the Challenge Cup.

“I think it will be a totally different game, but we will have to put in a similar defensive performance and hopefully we can go through.

“I think we can be pretty happy with what we did on Friday night, but we have got an extra gear.”

The clean sheet against Hull was Rhinos’ first in almost two years and their defensive effort was the most encouraging aspect, according to Ablett.

“I thought defensively we were very good,” said Ablett, who was in the centres for the fourth straight game.

“Offensively we still need to work on a few things. I thought we could have executed a bit better and scored a few more points.

“But the nil against was encouraging, especially after last week (the 38-18 defeat at Catalan Dragons).

“When you conceded that many points you need to have a look at yourselves. Hull can play, they have got some dangerous players, who play a bit off-the-cuff and can offload, so not to concede a point was definitely the most pleasing thing.”

The league victory was a morale-booster, but Ablett denied the team are feeling pressure from outside the camp.

“Pressure’s what you put on yourselves,” he said.

“We set standards for ourselves, without getting pressure from outside.

“We stick together, but we also know when we drop below our standards – like we did last week – it is not good enough.

“That was probably the longest week of my life, reflecting on some of the things that went wrong, so it is all the sweeter when we come back and put in a performance like we did at the weekend.”

Meanwhile, Rhinos under-18s were beaten 38-18 by Hull at Stanningley.

Recently-signed trio Jordan Baldwinson, Liam Sutcliffe and Rob Mulhern impressed on their debut.

Another of the players stepping up from the under-16s scholarship, Ben White, was among the try scorers. Jack Cooke and Luke Teasdsale also