Ben Thaler slams behaviour of Leeds Rhinos star

After their 50-0 defeat to Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos will have thought things couldn’t get any worse but that hasn’t been the case.

At Catalans Dragons they find themselves again facing another battering as their faint play off hopes fade away.

Their frustrations got worse when Sam Lisone had an altercation with the likes of Sam Tomkins.

The prop was then dressed down by the Ben Thaler who could be heard on Sky Sports saying:

“You do not need to be touching their players.”

He then called Cameron Smith over to say: “It is your players who are starting it. Cut it out.”

Leeds Rhinos went to Perpignan knowing that they needed a win to keep their play off hopes well and truly alive. To win they needed to repeat their success in France against the Dragons last year when they won at the Stade Gilbert Brutus twice to head towards Old Trafford.

The Rhinos got off to a poor start as Catalans Dragons carved them up down the blind side from deep.

Tom Johnstone was tackled on the touchline by a covering Ash Handley but the winger found an offload inside to Adam Keighran to score who converted.

The Dragons nearly added a second try when Mike McMeeken tried to power over but knocked on but eventually they would rack up the points with Ben Garcia powering over whilst another lovely move carved Leeds open down the edge with Sam Tomkins with the killer ball.

Tyrone May would notch the assist as Catalans made it 22-0 with a ball over the top for Tom Johnstone, still battling to be the league’s top try scorer.

Leeds thought they had a try when Jack Sinfield kicked and the ball hit Mitchell Pearce allowing him the chance to ground but Sam Tomkins got there first.