Leeds Rhinos won at a canter last night in retrieving an 18-point deficit during a remarkable second-half display that contrasted with a hopelessly plodding first 40 minutes dominated by Hull.

An unlikeliest of victories maintained Leeds’s six-point advantage over St Helens at the top of the engage Super League and kept Hull a place off the bottom, although without eight regulars they led 22-20 going into the final quarter and looked a far more rugged proposition under Richard Agar’s stewardship after Peter Sharp’s dismissal as coach last month. The black-and-whites were torn apart by Rob Burrow, Scott Donald and Gareth Ellis, the chief protagonists in the Rhinos’ recovery with two tries apiece on an evening when Kevin Sinfield’s achievement in becoming the second-highest scorer in Leeds’s 115-year history looked like being eclipsed.

Hull were brave for an hour but then blown away. Leeds had rested Jamie Peacock after his Carnegie Challenge Cup quarter-final heroics against Wigan Warriors, with obvious consequences as Hull’s rumbling forwards offloaded at will in racing to an 18-0 lead after 22 minutes.

Willie Manu spearheaded the effort up front as the Rhinos uncharacteristically buckled under the pressure and were outwitted by the precision kicking game of Adam Dykes, whose later dispatch to the sin-bin was critical in Leeds getting off the canvas.

The Hull scrum half’s wickedly steepling kick deceived Ryan Hall in presenting the pursuing Manu with the first of three tries in a 14-minute spell. A bobbling grubber left the Rhinos floundering and was snatched up by the unstoppable Graeme Horne, quickly followed by Danny Tickle outleaping three defenders in gathering Dykes’s cross-field kick.

Hull defended their line with renewed vigour after a lacklustre first half of the league campaign. Kirk Yeaman’s outstretched boot cleared Danny McGuire’s dangerous kick into Hull’s in-goal area and prevented a certain try by Brent Webb. The centre’s clattering challenge denied Ellis on the charge, before Keith Senior peeled away from a scrum in pulling a try back before the break.

Tickle landed a fourth goal to make it 20-4, but Hull’s advantage was reduced to six points by two outstanding solo scores in three minutes as Leeds went up several gears. Burrow’s scampering feet and eye for the gap left Hull clutching at straws from 30 metres out, whereas Donald took the scenic route from Leeds’s 20-metre line. And it was very much downhill from there for Hull.

Scorers: Leeds Rhinos: Tries: Senior, Burrow 2, Donald 2, Ellis 2. Goals: Sinfield 5. Hull: Tries: Manu, Horne, Tickle. Goals: Tickle 5.

Leeds Rhinos: B Webb; R Hall, C Ablett, K Senior, S Donald; D McGuire, R Burrow; K Leuluai, M Diskin, R Bailey, E Anselme, G Ellis, K Sinfield. Interchange: N Scruton, J Tansey, L Burgess, J Jones-Buchanan.

Hull: T Byrne; M Sing, G Horne, K Yeaman, T Briscoe; C Hall, A Dykes; E Dowes, D Houghton, G Carvell, W Manu, L Radford, D Tickle. Interchange: S Wheeldon, M Burnett, M Dale, J Thackray.

Referee: B Thaler.