Easter Weekend review

 Unfortunately for fans of Leeds Rhinos this Easter weekend did not mark the resurrection of the Rhinos 2022 season. A 20-20 draw that was snatched from the jaws of victory against Huddersfield and a 16-14 loss to Castleford meant that Leeds Rhinos finished the weekend on 3 points, just 1 point and place above the bottom side Toulouse.

The opening game of the Easter weekend started off as many games have this year with Leeds conceding an early try. Just 8 minutes in to the game after a long break Huddersfield worked the ball from left to right through their halfback and finally Lolohea who delayed his pass as Handley rushed in in order to find McGillvary free on the wing.

Despite this early setback Leeds hit back with two tries of their own. The first of which came in the 13th minute as Liam Sutcliffe crossed for a try. The halfback received the ball from Leeming at the ruck and managed to burst through a gap between Chris McQueen and Theo Fages. Just 14 minutes later Rhyse Martin scored a very similar try as he received a short ball from Austin and used some good footwork to beat the tackle of Chris McQueen and score. A conversion and a penalty on the stroke of halftime meant that Leeds headed into the break with a 12-4 lead.

Any optimism amongst the Leeds fans was tempered as Huddersfield scored their second try in the 53rd minute. Attacking within the Leeds 20 metre zone Ricky Leutele spun the ball right but it was immediately fired back left to Jack Cogger who made a half break through a tackle before offloading to Leutele who dived over. Not perturbed by the setback Leeds restored their 10 point lead when the interchange Morgan Gannon crashed over after 60 minutes. This was a try built off the back of pure desire as the young forward drove over the line and fought to get his arms free from the tackle to ground the ball.

At this point Leeds found themselves 20-10 which is how the game stayed until a frenzy of points in the last three minutes of the game. On 78 minutes Huddersfield were attacking down the left on the halfway line when James Bentley batted the ball back towards his own defensive line. As Mikolaj Oledski attempted to tidy up the ball he slipped and the ball, and subsequent victory, was suddenly just beyond his grasp. The loose ball was picked up by Fages who passed to Yates to score just to the left of the posts.

 At this point with 1 minute to go the Leeds team looked spent and the south stand rallied with a cry for their team to muster the energy for one last defensive push. It was however not to be as Huddersfield, attacking towards their own baying fans, made their way down the pitch off the back of a six again conceded by Cameron Smith. The ball is worked from the right to left through the Huddersfield halfbacks and as Liam Tindall has turned his hips to defend inside he is unable to readjust as the ball is spun out to Senior who dives over spectacularly in the corner. Fortunately for the gutted Leeds players and fans Tui Lolohea missed the sideline conversion and the game headed to golden point.

In golden point, drop goal attempts from both teams did not come close to going over until the last kick of the game. From 40 yards out Blake Austin’s attempt on the siren was on line the whole way however the ball dropped agonisingly short of the cross bar and a relived Huddersfield player threw the ball into touch to bring the game to a close.

Any optimism off the back of the performance against Huddersfield was quickly quenched when Castleford scored two tries in the first 17 minutes of the game. Castleford crossed for the first try of the game in the 8th minute as James Clare scored in the corner. The ball was brought to the left where Edwards was able to offload one handed to the wing where Clare cut back against the grain and broke through the grasp of the Leeds edge defence. Just 9 minutes later Clare’s opposite winger doubled the home teams lead. The try came after a break from McShane from dummy half. The hooker broke through the middle before passing to Mamo who shipped the ball to Evalds. The fullback was brought down by an outstanding last ditch tackle from Ash Handley. From the play the ball McShane had the nous to know Handley’s wing would be free and he kicked with the outside of his foot to the wing for Derrell Olpherts to score.

At this point I like many Leeds fans were prepared for an onslaught of points by an inform Castleford team. This thankfully for Leeds didn’t occur as a mixture of dogged defending by Leeds and countless errors while attacking by the tigers meant that Leeds were able to keep the game at 8-0 up until halftime where they then scored a try of their own just before the break. Unsurprisingly the try came off the back of a Castleford error. Jack Sinfield put through a grubber kick into the in goal that was missed by Jake Mamo as he tried to bat the ball dead in goal and Rhyse Martin was on hand to touch the ball down.

What ensued in the second half from both teams is the reason why two games over the Easter weekend is detrimental to the game. With both teams clearly fatigued from the previous game momentum swung back and forth as both teams coughed up possession on numerous occasions. Unfortunately for Rhinos fans their team was unable to take advantage of the territory they had, despite the best efforts of Leeming and Sinfield who played a very basic style of rugby focusing on attacking through the forward pack.

Penalty kicks by Martin and O’Brien had the game in the balance at 10-8 after 63 minutes after which the game turned with the sin binning of James Bentley. The forward saw a red mist after receiving an elbow to the face while tackling Liam Watts and Joe Westerman was the unlucky victim as he caught a swinging arm in the face from Bentley. The second rower could have no arguments when he was shown a yellow card by the referee Liam Moore.

Leeds defended gainfully for the following 10 minutes until they finally broke with 8 minutes to go. The Castleford half back Jake Trueman made a break before flicking the ball out of the back of his hand to the following Watts. The big front rower jagged back inside brushing off the poor defensive effort of Sutcliffe and scored under the posts.

Much like the first half Leeds did hit back on the stroke of full time but it was too little too late. The ball was worked left through Sinfield who threw a misspass to Martin and then it was shipped on to Handley. The winger outstripped his opposite man and passed back inside to Rhyse Martin to get his second of the game. With a minute to go Leeds retrieved the ball from the kick off but unfortunately Gannon dropped a ball that was passed behind him and the game was lost 16-14. 

Despite it being another disappointing weekend for Leeds fans, there were still one or two positives to take from the games. Firstly, in both games the Leeds defence continued to show a much stronger resolve for long periods of the games. Aided in part by poor opposition performances, Leeds were still able to survive multiple sets defending their own line. Against Castleford in particular the Leeds line was under attack for large periods of the game and we still managed to limit Castleford to only three tries.

Individuals also stood up and began to show glimpses of what they are capable of. Blake Austin against Huddersfield at times bossed the attack and drove Leeds down the pitch. His kicking game was also much improved and we forced a number of repeat sets when attacking the Huddersfield line. Morgan Gannon also made a big impact off the bench on both Thursday and Monday. As well as scoring the try he was solid in defence and carried the ball with pace and intent that left dents in the opposition defensive line. With Bentley more than likely receiving a ban for his high shot on Westerman, Gannon has a chance to show that he should be the starting second rower alongside Rhyse Martin.

Finally, Easter Monday’s game marked the debut appearances for the 17 year olds Max Simpson and Jack Sinfield. Although never an ideal situation to have to call on two players so young, both Simpson and Sinfield will have gained valuable experience that will stand them in good stead for the future.  I thought both had solid games given the circumstances and Jack Sinfield in particular showed a number of classy touches as he grew in to the contest. As well as his grubber kick to set up the first try, he put up a number of pinpoint high kicks that helped to trap Castleford in their own half.

 

Although the improvements in defence it still feels like an opportunity missed to kick start the season as Leeds were unable to beat two sides that did not play close to their potential. Against Huddersfield, Leeds exploited this poor performance and drew the game due to throwing away a comfortable lead. It is inexcusable that the Rhinos were unable to defend one set of play from kick off even when conceding a set restart. Liam Tindall perhaps showed some inexperience as well when he turned in so early in the play which meant that he was unable to readjust as the ball was passed to his opposition winger.

On Easter Monday against Castleford, the 2 point losing margin flattered the Rhinos and was mainly caused by the poor performance of the Tigers. Castleford would have had their victory sealed if not for the countless errors and penalties they gave away which gifted Leeds territory and a foothold in the game.

Thankfully for Castleford and their head coach Lee Radford, a blunt Leeds attack failed to capitalise on their chances. Hindered by losing Blake Austin to a head injury within 10 minutes, a makeshift halfback combination of Sinfield and Leeming reverted to the same one out rugby that has been ineffective throughout the season. Jon Wilkin highlighted in commentary the stat that Leeds pass the ball less than any other team in super league and this was again painfully obvious to see. Although it is understandable given the loss of personnel, from a fans point of view it is brutal to watch Leeds try to break teams down by simply sending the forwards or edge back rowers in to try crash over.

Even worse than the poor performance over the weekend is the ever expanding Leeds Rhinos casualty ward. The backline in particular has been decimated by injuries this year and now both Jack Walker and Blake Austin are set to miss a number of games. Walker injured his hamstring in the draw with Huddersfield and Austin failed a HIA in the first ten minutes of the Castleford defeat.

This leaves JJB once again relying on his academy to fill the backline with both Jack Sinfield and Max Simpson more than likely to get an extended run in the team. With Myler and Sezer also injured it looks like it will be Kruise Leeming who once again will cover the halfback position. With all three of the team's senior recognised half backs injured it is almost an impossible task for the coaching team to improve an already ailing attack.

James Bentley has also picked up another two game ban after a swinging arm on Joe Westerman in what was a mindless two minutes for the second rower. Angered by an elbow in the first tackle of the set by Liam Watts the second rower flew into the following tackles before clipping the Castleford 13 while second man in the tackle. This suspension as mentioned does give the chance for Morgan Gannon to show why he should be a starter after an excellent two games.

To borrow a term from Football, Friday’s game against Toulouse is already a relegation 4 pointer. The French team threatened to leapfrog Leeds as they were ahead for much of the game before finally being clawed back by Hull KR. It is rumoured that a new coach will be announced on Wednesday and another loss would see their new team rooted to the bottom of the table with a mountain to climb.