Great Britain captain Jamie Peacock made a tryscoring debut for Leeds as the Rhinos overcame a lively Harlequins 28-18 in front of a 4,029 crowd at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

The Londoners threatened to ruin Peacock's big day when they led 18-16 after an hour but full-strength Leeds scored two tries in the last 10 minutes to spare their blushes.

Peacock, the former Bradford skipper who made his first appearance for his new club at prop, had one try disallowed on 18 minutes for failing to ground the ball but made no mistake three minutes later when he took a short pass from hooker Matt Diskin to crash over.

Diskin and centre Keith Senior, playing his first match since the Tri-Nations series in November, also scored tries as the Rhinos built up a 16-6 lead.

But Quins, fresh from their 46-6 win over Catalans Dragons in their first warm-up game, hit back impressively to set up an exciting second half.

Winger Rikki Sheriffe, one of five new faces, finished off a sweeping move just before half-time, to add to Thomas Leuluai's earlier solo try and keep the visitors in touch.

A midfield break from prop Karl Temata then got stand-off Luke Dorn over in the 48th minute and Quins went in front on the hour when skipper Mark McLinden produced a devastating turn of pace to score their fourth try.

Unfortunately for the London club, Mark Gafa was able to improve only one of the scores and the Rhinos finished strongly to claim the spoils.

Teenager Lee Smith, impressive at full-back as well as wing, finished decisively for the all-important try and second rower Willie Poching made sure of the win with a late score, with Kevin Sinfield kicking his fourth goal from five attempts.

Hull continued their preparations for the new season with a 24-10 win over Catalans Dragons, although John Kear's men were made to work hard for the victory by the Super League newcomers.

Catalans suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Harlequins last weekend but, with a much strengthened line-up, including New Zealand star Stacey Jones, they dominated the first-half and only trailed at the break due to a brace from Gareth Raynor.

A sterile first quarter was notable only for the six penalties conceded by Challenge Cup holders Hull, a problem Kear had hoped to eradicate at the recent training camp in Spain.

When the deadlock was broken after 24 minutes, it was no surprise that Jones was involved.

His high kick caused panic in the home defence and Teddy Sadaoui pounced on a loose ball to ground. Laurent Frayssinous added the conversion.

Hull struggled to apply any serious pressure in response, with their kicking game often falling short of the mark, but they were able to take the lead by the interval thanks to Raynor's double.

First he collected Kirk Yeaman's pass to dive over in the corner and then capitalised on Yeaman's break to stroll 30 metres to the line. Danny Brough converted the latter and Hull led 10-6.

Yeaman was able to add a score of his own 15 minutes into the second period, taking Richard Whiting's pass to post his fourth try of Hull's pre-season campaign.

In a move which once again highlighted the strength of Hull's left-hand side, Yeaman then turned provider once more, feeding Great Britain winger Raynor for his hat-trick.

Kirk Dixon made no mistake in converting.

As the quality of the game deteriorated amidst a flurry of expected substitutions, it was Hull who retained their composure and closed the game out admirably with the aid of a second try in as many games for close-season recruit Sid Domic.

Frayssinous' last-minute try proved inadequate consolation for the visitors.

A last-minute try from Huddersfield hooker Brad Drew denied newly promoted Castleford victory in their final pre-season game before their engage Super League opener against Hull on February 10.

Stand-off Andy Kain set up three tries and scored one himself as the Tigers recovered from 10-0 down to lead 22-10.

But the Giants rallied with touchdowns by Matt Gardner and Robbie Paul before Drew darted over for his last-gasp score.

Michael De Vere added the winning points with his second goal.

Australian back Ryan McGoldrick made his Castleford debut from the substitutes' bench after flying into the country on Saturday. Castleford won a tug-of-war with NRL champions West Tigers for the 25-year-old's services.

The Giants, with half-backs Chris Thorman and Paul dictating play, took charge in the first half with two tries in three minutes.

Drew sent prop Wayne McDonald charging over before Thorman twisted his way over to increase the lead.

Castleford reduced the gap on the stroke of half-time when Kain put debutant Ben Roarty in for a try against his former club.

The Tigers looked set for victory when they scored three tries in nine minutes early in the second half.

Kain sparked the scoring burst by going over from Andy Henderson's pass. Kain's clever kicks then created tries for Richard Fletcher and Damien Blanch and Craig Huby kicked his third goal.