The league leaders and cup holders travelled to the KC Stadium to take on the Black & Whites of Hull FC for the second meeting in five days. This time it wasn't two points up for grabs, but progress into the semi-finals stage of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

The Rhinos were the victors on Sunday afternoon at Headingley but only by 32-20 and the matches between these two in Hull have historically been close affairs. Leeds were without Danny McGuire, Liam Sutcliffe and Adam Cuthbertson after injuries collected at the weekend. FC were without the services of their kicker Marc Sneyd who was suspended, and manager Lee Radford made five more personnel changes.

The Rhinos were the favourites with the bookies, but only just.

Five minutes into the match, and with the Rhinos having been on the front foot, Joel Moon collected his own high kick and grounded the ball on the line. Skipper Kevin Sinfield kicked the conversion for a 6-0 lead.

The Rhinos indicated how seriously they were treating the game, when they were gifted a penalty by Gareth Ellis just inside the FC half and Sinfield kicked the goal for 8-0.

On thirty-three Sinfield opted for goal again but this time missed a penalty from wide after a Kirk Yeaman block on Handley. Two minutes before the interval Yeaman dislodged the ball from the grasp of Hardaker and this time Sinfield did kick the penalty to give the Rhinos a 10-0 interval lead in what had been an evenly matched contest in every way but the scoreline and perhaps the penalty count.

There were just two second half minutes on the clock when the Rhinos stretched the lead to 16-0. After Kylie Leuluai had gone close Ryan Hall ran across field before finding Sinfield to put a reverse pass to Kallum Watkins to go over and give his skipper an easy conversion.

Over the next twenty-five minutes the Airlie Birds bombed chance after chance, knocking on and losing the ball with the try line beckoning. It seemed like it just wasn't going to be their night.

Ten minutes from the end and Zak Hardaker put the Rhinos in the semi-final after he jinked inside off a Sinfield pass after a great Jimmy Keinhorst break. Sinfield kicked the conversion for 22-0 and it would be the Rhinos in the hat on Sunday afternoon.

A minute later and a high tackle on Leuluai allowed Sinfield another penalty goal from forty-eight metres out.

With five minutes left in the game the Rhinos defence was finally breached when Jordan Abdull stepped out of two tackles to ground over the line. Jordan Rankin converted to reduce the deficit to eighteen points.

In the end this was a comfortable win for the cup holders. They brought their A-game to the KC Stadium and FC had no answer. Hull gave their all but unforced errors in the Rhinos red zone meant that they couldn't get on the score board until it was academic. The Rhinos join Hull KR in Sunday's hat and few sides left in the competition will be relishing the idea of playing a Rhinos side on the form that they showed tonight.

This will be Leeds fifteenth cup semi-final in the twenty years on summer rugby, one hell of a record for the boys from Headingley.

FC: Rankin (G), Lineham, Michaels, Yeaman, Talanoa, Pryce, Abdull (T), Paea, Houghton, Watts, Ellis, Minichiello, Westerman. Subs: Paleaaesina, Bowden, Thompson, Whiting.

Rhinos: Hardaker (T), Handley, Watkins (T), Moon (T), Hall, Sinfield (6G), Burrow, Leuluai, Aiton, Peacock, Ward S, Keinhorst, Ablett. Subs: Singleton, Ward R, Yates, Delaney.

Referee: James Child
Attendance: 9,261