The Leeds' debut of Australian Test ace Wendell Sailor was upstaged by teenage team mate Kevin Sinfield as the Rhinos recorded a deserved Boxing Day victory at Headingley.

Wendell Sailor: Marked by up to four players

Halifax kept a tight reign on the Brisbane Broncos winger - who has run in 11 tries in nine games for the Rhinos' sister rugby union team Leeds Tykes, restricting him to occasional runs out of defence on his debut in British rugby league.

Only once did Sailor, 24, gain a close sight of the Blue Sox tryline while his blunder 10 minutes from the end almost proved costly as Halifax set up a rousing finish.

Wendell Sailor: "I really enjoyed the day" (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Leeds were comfortably in control of their challenge match, leading by two tries to nil, when Sailor failed to gather a grubber kick from Blue Sox scrum-half Gavin Clinch and Danny Seal profited from the glaring error to score his side's only try.

Clinch added the conversion. Stand-off Martin Moana was then held up on his back over the line as the visitors threatened to ruin Sailor's big day but the Rhinos secured victory with two minutes to go when centre Adam Hughes powered his way over for a third try.

Sinfield shines

While the Blue Sox put three and sometimes four men on Sailor, they had serious difficulty coping with the elusive running of Sinfield.

The 18-year-old loose forward scored the first try and had another disallowed and has already been included among the Rhinos' full-time senior squad for next season.

His performance, along with an impressive debut by former Great Britain hooker Lee Jackson and some nice touches from Hughes, were the highlights for last year's beaten Grand Finalists, who rested half-a-dozen regulars but still did enough to provide encouraging signs for the new campaign.

Halifax coach John Pendlebury, hoping to build on last season's third-place finish, chose not to play former Leeds stand-off Graham Holroyd.

He gave debuts to Paul Broadbent, Daryl Cardiss, Andy Craig and Nick Pinkney.