The final began in bizarre circumstances as an injury to the referee led to a change inside the opening minue, but it was the Rhinos who settled more quickly and they could have taken the lead, only to miss two attempts at goal.

And it was the Bulls who broke the deadlock with a fine try. The ball was moved swiftly down the back line, allowing evergreen Ben Nowak to score in the corner.

Although the conversion was missed, there were no further scores in the first half, leaving Bulls 5-0 up at the break.

The Rhinos continued to dominate possession during the second period, and with 15 minutes gone, the referee deemed Simon Whiteside had transgressed and he was sin-binned.

And the visitors finally crossed the Bracknell line when hooker Glyn Blakemore peeled off the back of a rolling maul to score. Full back Nick Brooks added a brilliant touchline conversion to give the holders a 7-5 lead.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, Bracknell tried to play a more expansive game, but they suffered disaster when first team head coach Rory Greenslade-Jones threw a huge mis-pass which was intercepted by Reading centre Duncan Mollison, who raced more than half the length of the field for the decisive try, again converted by Brooks.

With seconds remaining, Whiteside was shown a second yellow card, and Rhinos held on for a third title in four seasons.