Round 7: Leeds Rhinos vs Bradford Bulls

[DIEHARD]

Date: Thursday 20 March
Kick-off: 2000 GMT
Venue: Headingley Carnegie

Leeds: Webb, Donald, Senior, Smith, Burrow, Leuluai, Diskin, Pea****, Jones-Buchanan, Ellis, Sinfield, Lauitiiti, Scruton, Tansey, Hall, Burgess, Allan, Kaye, Worrall.

Bradford: Tadulala, Newton, Halley, Feather, Platt, Deacon, Harris, Lynch, Evans, Hape, Solomona, Kopczak, Burgess, Nero, Godwin, Jeffries, Finnigan, Cook, James.

[DIEHARD]

Leeds v Bradford

Super League leaders Leeds are without prop Ryan Bailey (groin) but winger Lee Smith and hooker Matt Diskin return.

Back rower Danny Allan, 18, is also named in a 19-man squad, which also includes Ben Kaye and Simon Worrall.

Bradford have recalled prop Craig Kopczak from his loan spell at Halifax after centre Paul Sykes and winger Tame Tupou joined their growing injury list.

Full-back Michael Platt (hamstring) has also failed a fitness test but stand-off Iestyn Harris could return.

The Bulls are already missing forwards Joe Vagana, Glenn Morrison and Jamie Langley.

But Bradford coach Steve McNamara is expecting the sparks to fly.

"There will be no room for the faint hearts," he said. "There will be a lot of tired bodies before the game but adrenalin is a great thing and it gets rid of most of the aches and pains. You run on it for 80 minutes and you pay for it after.

"Leeds have certainly been strong defensively and we will need to match them. I watched their game against Harlequins and I thought they were very clinical and ruthless.

"They ran in tries from all over - long range and short - and did a great job on them. They are in good form."

Leeds beat Harlequins 48-0 last time out while Bradford enjoyed an impressive 23-10 win over Warrington.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

[quins rl]

The Rhinos dish out another spanking!! They seem head and shoulders above the rest of SL at the mo!

[~lee~]

I wasnt sure how well they'd go this year but they seem unstoppable at the moment.