Yesterday’s 16-14 loss to Castleford Tigers left Leeds second from bottom in the Super League, one point ahead of visiting Toulouse Olympique on Friday.
Rhinos have won just once in 10 competitive games, making it the worst start to the season in club history, but they followed up last Thursday’s draw against Huddersfield Giants with a spirited display at Wheldon Road.
Halfback Jack Sinfield, son of Rhinos legend Kevin and center Max Simpson, both 17, made their debut and Leeds lost Blake Austin to a head injury, which will rule him out of Friday’s game, inside of the first 10 minutes. Trailing 8–0 late in the first quarter, the Rhinos struck back to level the score just before the hour mark and Castleford did not regain control until Leeds’ James Bentley was dropped just after the hour mark.
The last eight of the hosts’ points came against 12 men, but Leeds converted a comeback try in the closing stages and were the better side for much of a shoddy derby.
Leeds have lost three of their four games under caretaker manager Jamie Jones-Buchanan.
He admitted that he does not expect to be in charge in three days, but feels progress has been made since he took over from Richard Agar a month ago.
“There are a lot of young guys who are doing very hard, who played exceptionally well, guys like Morgan Gannon, Jarrod O’Connor, young Jack Sinfield and Max Simpson,” Jones-Buchanan said after yesterday’s game.
“They stood up to be counted for long periods.
“They are really young and inexperienced players and now I am happy to see what that looks like in six, 12 or 18 months, when those guys have a few more miles on the clock.
“From where I was a month ago, the boys have bonded a lot.
“It’s hard for me to prove this, but if you ask the players and the staff how they feel right now, it’s a million miles from where they were four or five weeks ago.”
Castleford seemed to be sailing when unconverted tries from James Clare, in his first appearance this season, and Derrell Olpherts got them off to a flying start.
But the Tigers were lost after that; although they defended strongly, they made a steady stream of errors and Leeds, who seemed to have been beaten, grew in confidence.
Rhyse Martin took advantage of a Jake Mamo error to score a try which he also converted just before half-time and then leveled with a penalty goal.
Gareth O’Brien added two points after Bentley’s yellow card and then converted a Liam Watts try, before Martin crossed again and completed the scoring with his third goal.
It was Castleford’s third consecutive league win and their manager Lee Radford reflected: “It was a horrible game to watch, but in a weird way the messiness of what we produced probably makes the win at the end that bit more rewarding.
“The intensity of the game, the decision making, the skill and the execution were really weak, but we defended well, I think that was positive.
“They got a kick try and the last one was disappointing to concede, but it was a four-day make-up performance.”
Castleford Tigers: Evalds, Olpherts, Mamo, Fonua, Clare, Trueman, O’Brien, Watts, McShane, Griffin, Edwards, Milner, Westerman. Subs Massey, Hepi, Smith, Qareqare.
Leeds Rhinos: Sutcliffe, Briscoe, Simpson, Mellor, Handley, Austin, Sinfield, Oledzki, Leeming, Thompson, Bentley, Martin, O’Connor. Subs Tetevano, Dwyer, Gannon, Donaldson.
Referee: Liam Moore (Wigan).
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Source: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-18 20:45:40
