Champions Leeds shook off their lethargy to recover an 18-point deficit and surge to a 14th win of the engage Super League season.

The Rhinos, who maintain their six-point lead over St Helens, looked strangely out of sorts in the first half and patched-up Hull fully deserved their 18-4 interval lead.

But Australian winger Scott Donald lit up a sparkling second-half show with a scintillating 80-metre try, one of six from the runaway leaders, as Leeds transformed the match in front of another 16,000 Headingley crowd.

Donald, Rob Burrow and Gareth Ellis all touched down twice in a one-sided second half and captain Kevin Sinfield kicked five goals on the way to becoming the second highest scorer in the club's 113-year history.

Yet Richard Agar's 11th-placed side, fresh from a shock win at Bradford in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup, raced into an 18-0 lead with the aid of three tries created by the tactical kicking of scrum-half Adam Dykes.

They then reproduced their defensive heroics of Odsal to protect their lead and threaten to pull off one of the shocks of the season.

Leeds took the opportunity to rest Great Britain captain Jamie Peacock's cut elbow while the late withdrawal of Gareth Raynor and Danny Washbrook took Hull's number of absentees to eight.

Yet the visitors looked much the more enterprising team in the first half, with second rower Willie Manu in particular a handful for the Rhinos defence, although all three of their first-half tries stemmed from kicks by their Australian half-back Adam Dykes.

Manu pounced for the first after nine minutes when Leeds right winger Ryan Hall fumbled Dykes' towering kick and centre Graeme Horne profited from Keith Senior's failure to drop on a rolling ball nine minutes later.

When loose forward Danny Tickle plucked the ball out of the air following another pinpoint Dykes kick four minutes later and added his third conversion to make it 18-0, the big following from east Yorkshire were in wonderland.

The champions could not match their visitors' lethal finishing at that stage, with hooker Matt Diskin turned onto his back when they eventually breached the resolute Hull defensive line.

However, Leeds maintained the pressure and it paid off when Senior, who had earlier produced a series of storming bursts, powered his way over for a trademark try.

Sinfield, who went into the game needing only a point to become the second highest scorer in the history of the club, was still looking to reach the mark after failing with the difficult conversion.

Hull extended their lead with a Tickle penalty goal five minutes into the second half but they quickly found themselves defending after conceding a goal-line drop-out from the re-start.

They were punished by a trademark break from livewire scrum-half Burrow, who scooted away for a typical try, but his effort was bettered moments later by Donald.

The Australian winger had been a virtual spectator in the first half but he exploded into action after receiving the ball deep inside his own half, racing up the left touchline, cutting inside to leave a trail of defenders in his wake and then accelerating away to the touchline for a glorious try.

Sinfield, having missed with two easier efforts, fittingly added the touchline conversion to bring up the 1,885th point of his career and go past Joe Thompson in the club's all-time list.

Leeds were on a roll by then and, when Hull were reduced to 12 men after 54 minutes through the sin-binning of Dykes for a professional foul, they immediately took advantage to score their fourth try.

Great Britain second rower Ellis proved unstoppable after taking Danny McGuire's pass 10 metres out from the line and Sinfield's second goal tied the scores.

Hull managed to stem the onslaught and edged back in front after 59 minutes with a second penalty from Tickle but Leeds hit the front for the first time two minutes later when Donald took Webb's long pass to score his second try.

Sinfield then broke clear to get Ellis over for his second try and Burrow grabbed his second after collecting a loose ball and racing clear.