Leeds Rhinos vs Hull KR review

 After a slow start Jamie Jones-Buchanan has capped off his brief stint as a super league head coach by winning his second game in a row. Tries from forwards Matt Prior and Morgan Gannon were enough to shut out a misfiring Hull KR team 12-0 in front of a boisterous home crowd. 

Leeds made a dream start to the game when Prior scored after just three minutes. On the last tackle a grubber kick from the returning Blake Austin was spilled by Ben Crooks and the Leeds forward was on hand to retrieve the spilled ball and score in front of the posts. The rest of the first half followed a familiar pattern of resolute Leeds defence and a regular slew of Hull KR errors, mainly forward passes and knock-ons, that halted the away team’s momentum and helped Leeds to defend their own line.

At halftime, myself and the Leeds fans around me were more hopeful than optimistic of the Rhinos keeping their lead as we assumed that Hull KR would tidy up their game and start to apply pressure to the Rhinos. These fears were quelled somewhat when Morgan Gannon crossed for Leeds second try. Again the try came from confusion caused by a grubber kick as three Hull KR defenders left the ball for each other which allowed the front rower to dive in and score 8 minutes into the second half. A further penalty from Rhyse Martin on 60 minutes meant that Hull faced an uphill battle in the final 20 minutes to bring the game. 

Other than a couple of scares in the final 10 minutes and a Ryan Hall try with minutes ago that was ruled out for yet another forward pass, Leeds managed to control the game and limit the stress of the vocal South stand. Leeds even had a try of their own ruled out in the final minutes of the game as Gannon thought he had scored again from a short Hull drop out but referee James Child ruled that the ball had not gone 10 metres.  The kicking game of Blake Austin in particular was key in trapping the robins in their own half and forcing them to go the length of the field to score. 

For once when looking back at a Rhinos game this season, there are more positives than negatives to be taken away from the game. Firstly, the most obvious positive is keeping a team to nil, especially a team as in form as Hull KR. Despite the help given to Leeds by a wasteful Hull KR team, the Rhinos overall produced a solid defensive display as well as scrambling well at times to force the mistake by Hull KR and kill attacks.

On the other side of the ball there were a number of impressive performances. In particular I thought that Blake Austin had by far his best game in a Leeds shirt. Mainly due to the lack of territory Leeds had, Austin didn’t produce the highlight reel moments we are used to from him but he instead directed the Leeds attack superbly. He provided the focal point for the Leeds attack that has been missing for the last few weeks and his kicking game continuously challenged KR to bring the ball out of their own end.

I also thought that Rhyse Martin was another stand out performer in his new role as a centre. He typified the Leeds team as a whole by carrying powerfully and doing everything possible to find his front. As well as this he also pulled off a number of flair moments that got the crowd going including an audacious flick pass that was part of a move that saw the ball move laterally from one side of the pitch to the other and back again. The move ended with Ash Handley almost scoring in the corner but he just put a foot in touch.

The only negatives from the game itself was that the Leeds left edge of Max Simpson and Ash Handley was exposed as a weakness throughout the game. Lachlan Coote was able to continually wrap around to his right and create mismatches against the struggling defenders. It does feel harsh criticising a 17 year old who has been thrown into the first team out of necessity but it is something that will need to be looked at going forward. The other slight blow are the bans picked up by the try scorers Morgan Gannon and Matt Prior. Luckily for Rowan Smith, he has James Bentley and Zane Tetevano returning from their own respective bans to take their places.

Looking ahead now to the next game in two weekends time, it is vital for the Rhinos season that they kick on from these wins to really try to make something of this season. This is boosted by Rowan Smith landing in the country, as he will have two weeks to start to implement his values and structures to the team and hopefully be able to show against Salford that he can start to guide the team in the right direction. Blake Austin has also shown how important it is to get key players back and hopefully Rowan Smith will have the ability to quickly call on a larger number of the first team squad.

Thank you for reading and remember All Leeds aren’t we.