Leeds mastered the mud to make it two wins out of two in the engage Super League and leave last year's beaten Grand Finalists still waiting for their first success.

England international Lee Smith scored the only try of the first half as Leeds ground out a 6-0 interval lead and they defied atrocious conditions at Headingley to score twice more after the break.

Chances were at a premium on a quagmire of a pitch but the Rhinos were deserved winners after enjoying the bulk of possession and demonstrating the greater flair in front of a crowd of 18,659.

Hull, held to a draw by the Catalans in their opening game, won 44-28 on their last visit to Headingley last May but, without four regulars and new signing Willie Manu because of injury and illness, they looked short of penetration.

They had their moments early in the game, with second rower Danny Tickle going close after Leeds prop Ryan Bailey had knocked on under his own posts.

But Leeds gradually assumed control, with Gareth Ellis and Jamie Peacock bossing the show up front and the exciting Brent Webb and Danny McGuire causing all sorts of problems with their elusive running.

The breakthrough came on 17 minutes when busy hooker Matt Diskin made a half-break and Rob Burrow, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Clinton Toopi made light of the conditions to work the ball out to the wing, where Smith squeezed over at the corner.

Kevin Sinfield found a grassy part of the pitch to land a touchline conversion that, in the conditions, was always likely to be precious.

A flurry of penalties kept Hull on the back foot in the early stages of the second half as Leeds looked to build on their promising first 40 minutes.

Sinfield was wide with a shot at goal on 44 minutes but Hull failed to relieve the pressure when full-back Shaun Briscoe caught the ball with a foot on the dead-ball line.

The Rhinos immediately ran the ball back and, after the first of a series of superb offloads from Ali Lauitiiti released Webb, Sinfield was in support to claim his first Super League try for 12 months.

The skipper also added the goal to make it 12-0 but Hull struck back on 56 minutes to give themselves a flicker of hope.

Smith lost the ball five metres from his own line in attempting to gather Danny Washbrook's grubber kick and was made to pay the price.

Stand-off Thomas Lee's kick to the line on the last tackle looked to have too much weight on it but it stopped invitingly for winger Matt Sing, who managed to get his fingers to the ball despite initially over-running it.

Tickle was unable to add the conversion, leaving his side with an eight-point deficit going into the final quarter.

Leeds ought to have made the game safe when McGuire sliced through the Hull defence and kicked ahead for Burrow to chase but the ball again stuck in the mud and defender Shayne McMenemy was able to clear the danger.

However, there was no stopping prop forward Ryan Bailey on 68 minutes when he powered his way to the line and grounded the ball despite the tackle from Briscoe and Lee, with Sinfield adding his third conversion.