Salford Red Devils vs Leeds Rhinos Review

The sixth defeat of the season for Leeds Rhinos  proved to be the final nail in the coffin for head coach Richard Agar as he announced on Tuesday morning that he has resigned from his role. The Rhinos lost 26-12 to Salford Red Devils on Friday night at the AJ Bell Stadium in a game where the result was in the balance until the final ten minutes.

Leeds had the better of the opening exchanges of the game with winger Ash Handley having a try ruled out by the video referee for a double movement before the deadlock was finally broken by Mikolaj Oledzki. The Polish born prop dived on a grubber kick from Aidan Sezer that was spilled by the covering Marc Sneyd. Salford hit back later in the hald when fullback Ryan Brierley poked a kick through to the corner for Ken Sio to score. Leeds retook the lead when Donaldson fought to offload the ball before Jack Walker scooted across the line drawing in defenders before throwing a miss pass to the waiting Handley. Sneyd added a penalty goal on the stroke of halftime after Bodene Thompson was shown a yellow for his team's repeated indiscretions while defending their line.

For much of the second half the game continued in the same vein as the first stanza with both teams focusing on their defence and keeping the ball within the forwards. Leeds forward Zane Tetevano received a yellow card for a high tackle which means that Leeds have now had to play every game this year with reduced numbers. Despite this Leeds were the first team to get on the board when Rhyse Martin kicked a penalty on the 64th minute.

This was as good as it got for the Leeds fans as Salford scored 18 unanswered points to wrap up the game. The rot for Leeds started in the 68th minute when, off the back of a poor kick from Sezer, Joe Burgess caught the ball in goal and rushed to take the 20m tap catching the lethargic Leeds defenders off guard. Off the back of his run Salford halfback Brodie Croft brough play over to the right hand side where the ball passed through the hands of Croft who stepped a Leeds defender before putting Atkin over in the corner.

Still in the game at 14-12, Leeds then conceded the try that finished the game off Elijah Taylor managed to drive over the line and  drop to the floor and ground the ball despite being tackled by four Leeds defenders. The cherry on the cake for the jubilant home fans came with a minute to go when Ryan Brierley scored the final try. Brodie Croft gave an inside ball that caught out the tired Leeds defenders and the Scotland international was on hand to complete the 2 vs 1 pass against the helpless Jack Walker.

Jack Walker incidentally was one of the few players, alongside Mikolaj Oledzki, who showed any signs of quality for the away team. The ball playing skill he showed to set up the try for Ash Handley is something that fans have been wanting to see more of from the fullback since he broke into the first team. If this skill can be developed more this season there is no reason why he cannot become one of if not the best fullback in the competition. 

What was most disappointing to see from a fans point of view is the lack of input both Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin had on the game. Brodie Croft and Ryan Brierley, albeit playing at full back, for Salford were able to drive their team down the field when the game was in the balance and take advantage of the opportunities that sprung up. 

The two halfbacks came with the pedigree of starring for their teams in both Australia and England, but for the Rhinos neither have been able to show that they deserve the hype their signings came with. Austin at times has shown glimpses of what he can do, especially with his willingness to take on the line and some of his high spiral bombs have caused chaos for opposition back lines. However, as an attacking unit the pair's decision making on last play leaves a lot to be desired. Many times in these opening rounds Leeds have been attacking on the oppositions line and on the last play they fail to either craft an attack that could lead to a try or at the very least force a goal line drop out. Any successful team in this code thrives on the ability to force the opposition to defend numerous sets in a row creating fatigue.

The whole team on Thursday night was guilty of falling apart in the last 15 minutes of the game when they needed to step up. After Salford took the lead the final tries that were conceded were extremely soft. For Salford’s third try,  Elijah Taylor was being held up by four defenders as he crossed the line yet he was still able to find a way to score. This simply isn’t good enough as a defensive unit for a team that has genuine aspirations of breaking into the top four in this competition.

Another common theme of the start of the season is the discipline problems the team has. In every game this season, even when comprehensively beating Wakefield, Leeds have found themselves down on number due to players getting carded. This isn’t an isolated issue with every team seeing more of their players getting carded due to the clamp down on foul play, however the better teams in the competition have started to adapt to the rule changes, 

As we have seen in the news over the last couple of days, Richard Agar has stepped away from his role with Jamie Jones-Buchanan stepping in on an interim basis. What is important now is that the players recognise the role they have played in this poor start to the season and now step up to show what they can do. This starts on Saturday afternoon live on the BBC when they face Castleford in the Challenge Cup.