Hull Kingston Rovers suffer heavy defeat to Leeds Rhinos despite Korbin Sims' injury return

Leeds opened the scoring on 15 minutes when the departing Robert Lui marked his final game in front of a home crowd with a try.

Both sides had made a steady start to the match but the halfback lit up the Headingley crowd as he stepped back inside from a Kruise Leeming pass to break free and race Will Dagger to the try line.

The halfback made it comfortably and Leeds took a six-point lead.

As soon as the Rhinos had scored, the Robins bounced back through their halfback Mikey Lewis.

A play wide by Leeds went astray as Handley tried to offload out of the back, and the Robins' youngster was there to swallow up the loose ball and race Jack Broadbent for 40 metres to score in the corner.

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Jordan Abdull locked the score up with his conversion.

Penalties and errors by the visitors proved their downfall as a strip on Morgan Gannon, in particular, helped the home side downfield.

Broadbent had a great opportunity trying to poke his nose through the line before a wide passing movement involving Lui, Leeming and Richie Myler was batted down by Brad Takairangi.

On the attack again, although Rhyse Martin came close, it was captain Matt Prior who got Leeds on the scoreboard again; the prop driving for the posts before wriggling free to get the ball down on the half-hour mark.

Fellow prop Tom Holroyd then added his name to the scoresheet.

A sharp one-two play between Leeming and Ash Handley opened space up down the left edge and Leeming raced free.

Dagger was there to cover but couldn't prevent what was to come; Holroyd receiving the ball after quick passes from Lui and Cam Smith found the prop in space.

Martin converted to make the score 18-6.

The Robins missed a chance to close the scoreline after Ben Crooks fumbled the ball when sliding to score in the corner and Leeds punished Hull for their mistakes again.

Leeming and Morgan Gannon combined to move Leeds towards the centre of the field before Smith and Lui combined again to put Martin through a gaping hole in the Robins' defence.

With pressure coming from the chasing defence, Martin offloaded for Richie Myler to race free to add Leeds' fourth; taking the score to 24-6 at half-time.

The Rhinos began the second 40 as they finished the first.

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A forward pass from Abdull to Kane Linnett started Leeds on their attack and a further penalty on Ash Handley aided Leeds further.

In front of the uprights after a rampant Konrad Hurrell run, substitute Brad Dwyer fed James Donaldson, who barrelled his way over from short range.

The decision was handed up to the video referee but there was no doubting the loose forward had scored.

Hull KR couldn't break down Leeds' defence and that invited Leeds to attack ruthlessly.

Having played a part in a couple of Leeds' first half tries, Handley finally got over for a try of his own; finishing spectacularly in the corner to finish the game for Leeds with 15 minutes remaining.

Dagger got a try back in the dying moments for the Robins but as the full-time whistle sounded, Leeds had secured fifth place and set up a playoff showdown with Wigan Warriors - headlined by Shellharbour's Jai Field.

While Sims' Rovers, who will be without Culburra Beach's Adam Quinlan (shoulder) for the remainder of the season, will take on Warrington in Friday's elimination final.

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