Workington Town go under at the hands of Leeds Rhinos

The gulf between the leagues was obvious as Leeds racked up an impressive scoreline, after a lightning start.

They hit Town hard in the opening quarter and the visitors never really recovered although they had their moments when they tested the home side.

But to give Workington credit they did not let their heads go down and battled to the final whistle.

Leeds started with intensity and only some last ditch defending from Town kept them off their line as Brett Ferres and Harry Newman went close.

But unfortunately for Town Leeds got the start they wanted inside the third minute as they passed the ball out wide and Luke Briscoe went over in the corner, with Liam Sutcliffe converting from the touchline.

And on the next set of six a powerful run from Wellington Albert up the middle got Leeds into another good position and the speed of their hands got them out to the opposite wing where Ashton Golding touched down. Another touchline conversion from Sutcliffe and Leeds were 12-0 to the good.

Harry Newman was the next to go over the whitewash as the Rhinos appeared to be putting on a display and catching their visitors out wide too easily, with Sutcliffe converting again.

Wellington Albert benefited from the next break again on the next set of six and as Sutcliffe put the ball between the sticks in front of the posts it looked like it could be a long night for the visitors.

Town rallied slightly and had a couple of forays into the Leeds half but the Super League outfit dealt with them quickly and broke back upfield with Newman bagging his second, Sutcliffe again tagging on the extras.

Workington had their best chance when a neat little kick from Carl Forber bobbled among the Leeds defenders but Town just couldn't quite take advantage as it went dead.

Town had kept them at bay for a while but when the Rhinos got their chance they used their speed well up the left hand touchline for Newman to get his hat-trick, with Sutcliffe again converting.

Two penalties marched Town down the field and this time they did take advantage with Caine Barnes crashing over the line leaving an easy conversion for Carl Forber to bring their heads up.

But, just before the break, Leeds struck again as Richie Myler danced through the defence to score and Sutcliffe was faced with another easy goal, his seventh of the night so far.

Town got an unfortunate break at the start of the second half as a kick ricocheted off Walsh and right into the arms of Myler who wasted no time in touching down wide out. But Sutcliffe was in fine form and added the two points from the touchline.

A big hit from Perry Singleton managed to get the ball back just inside their own half as he forced Kallum Watkins to knock on.

And Town were trying everything to break through the Leeds defence but when Tyllar Mellor got onto the end of a Forber kick and touched down he was pulled back for offside.

Then at the opposite end of the field Brett Ferres took advantage of a tap and he raced over the line, followed just three minutes later by Myler who picked up his hat-trick when he burrowed over under a sea of defenders with two more goals from the accurate boot of Sutcliffe.

Danny Tickle was held up over the line as Town pressed to try and get a foothold in the game and then they got a penalty but a wayward pass allowed Leeds to clear their lines.

Newman picked up his fourth try of the night when he brushed off several would-be tacklers down the left hand flank to fly over and Sutcliffe was on target to make it 66-6.

Tickle went close again as Town continued to keep pushing and Singleton was held up over the line as he tried to go himself but the final kick from Forber was collected by Leeds and they broke away again.

With 10 minutes remaining Leeds went over the 70-point mark when Matt Parcell crashed over under the sticks leaving an easy conversion for Sutcliffe.

And there was time for one last try on the whistle from Golding with Sutcliffe adding a 13th goal to round off the scoring at 78-6.