CHRIS Chester tasted his first defeat as Hull KR coach with a 30-6 reverse against Leeds at Headingley, but after an inspired first 60 minutes from the Robins, such a one-sided score never looked likely.
However, when Leeds got their noses in front, they get on a roll and with three tries in quick succession they did just that.
Rovers rallied with a Josh Hodgson try, but it was Leeds who finished strongly with two tries in the closing stages.
Rovers can take heart from the fact they made the Rhinos struggle for the first hour, and can use that positive to their advantage for the remainder of the season.
Leeds brought back big guns Kevin Sinfield, Rob Burrow and Carl Ablett to preserve their impressive record of playing at Headingley on a Friday night, where they have now taken 24 points from a possible 26. The one time they did come up empty handed was against Rovers last August, but it was not to be this time.
The game had started brightly with the prospect of plenty of points. However, as the game went on, errors crept in to ruin it as a spectacle.
A scoreless first half told its own story.
The major talking point in the opening period came when play was held up for several minutes after a sickening collision between Rhys Lovegrove and Rhinos full-back Ben Jones-Bishop, who was attempting to catch a Kris Keating bomb. Lovegrove came off worse with an injury to his left knee and was replaced by Kevin Larroyer after several minutes of on-field attention. Jones-Bishop also had to leave the action 10 minutes later.
For the second week running, Rovers competed their first five sets. Their sixth set almost resulted in the opening try, but Liam Salter was held up over the line on the last tackle.
Leeds also had a 100 per cent completion rate, but Rovers' seventh set brought the first error of the game in the 14th minute with Travis Burns kicking into touch on the full.
Giving the Rhinos the opportunity they had been waiting patiently for, only a superb steal by Josh Hodgson on Danny McGuire inches from the try-line got KR out of jail.
With the game becoming scrappy, both sides were guilty of making errors. Rovers' mistakes were unforced, like Craig Hall playing the ball incorrectly and Hodgson's forward pass from a scrum when 20 metres from the Robins' own line.
Chester's injury woes got worse when Neville Costigan took a heavy blow to the head when stopping Kallum Watkins. The Papua New Guinea captain, who made a try-saving ankle tap to stop Jones-Bishop earlier in the half, was led down the tunnel too groggy to appreciate the applause from the Leeds fans.
On the stroke of half-time, Leeds thought they had scored that all-important first try, but Tom Briscoe was called back as Burrow's pass to him drifted forward.
There was an increased turn out from the Rovers fans, who were hoping to see a repeat of last week's superb win over St Helens, and the visitors should have led at the break. They had the better chances, but shot themselves in the foot all too often.
With Leeds there for the taking, the worry was that Brian McDermott's side would take control of the game after the break once he had a word with his below-par players.
The first 10 minutes weren't much better than anything the first half served up. Travis Burns came up short with a 40/20, while Ryan Hall continued to drop balls as the line beckoned.
Costigan showed his courage by returning to the action in the 57th minute, but his first act was to drop the ball in a tackle as the standard of the game dropped even lower.
Just as everyone was thinking a drop-goal could win the game, Burrow popped up to do what he does best. With the defence getting organised, he squeezed his way over the line to break the stubborn resolve of Rovers. Sinfield kicked the straightforward conversion to give his side a 6-0 lead with 20 minutes to play.
After waiting so long for the first try, two more arrived in quick succession. Liam Sutcliffe finished off a great move down the Rhinos' right involving Briscoe and Watkins.
In their next set, the Rhinos scored again when McGuire's kick through was grounded by Ablett before Burns could get his hands under the ball.
Sinfield kicked all three conversion to make it 18-0 to the Rhinos.
Rovers' response was to go down the field and score their first try as the game took a bizarre twist and points came quickly.
Hodgson read the defence superbly to sneak through and score near the posts, before Burns added the extras for 18-6 with 11 minutes left to play.
If Costigan had not been held up shortly after, it would have set up a very tense finale.
In the end, Leeds sealed a hard-fought win with a McGuire try. Sinfield gave him the pass after a great break and the skipper duly converted to put Rovers out of their misery.
The final act came from Burrow, who dummied his way through to score and Sinfield converted.
Despite the defeat, there were plenty of positives for Chester to take from a game where Leeds needed their big guns to get out of jail.
