“Decent patches but not enough” – Rohan Smith reacts to Leeds Rhinos defeat

Leeds Rhinos fell to defeat against Warrington Wolves at Headingley 34-8, a score that Rohan Smith has argued wasn’t reflective of the 80 minutes.

The Rhinos lost the first half 16-4 but pulled a try back through Luis Roberts and looked to be about to take a foothold into the game but three tries in the final 15 minutes by Warrington capitalizing on Leeds’ mistakes killed the game off.

There was also some contention in that Paul Momirovski had a try disallowed for double movement, a call that the video ref made after the score was initially sent up as a try by referee Aaron Moore.

On that matter, Rohan Smith told BBC Radio Leeds: “I tend not to spend too much time watching replays of anything because you can’t change it and it’s a roll of the dice. It went for a long period of time so I’m assuming there was a lot of replays looked at and it goes up try and it comes down no try, but I thought it was an extremely close call.”

Despite the overturned try it was a game that Leeds Rhinos struggled to really imprint themselves on with the club having plenty of problems really getting to grips with their own identity in recent weeks.

That’s something that former Rhinos star Blake Austin has suggested with the playmaker taking to social media to suggest that Rohan Smith’s tactics don’t suit the signings that he has made, as well as the claim that Jarrod O’Connor should be starting ahead of Andy Ackers.

Whatever the issue is at Leeds Rhinos, it’s one that is becoming concerning quickly with the club now losing three home games in a row and failing to post ten points or more for the third time in four games.

What Rohan Smith said about Leeds Rhinos loss?

With the match being televised on Sky Sports, Smith was first interviewed by Jenna Brooks and began to explain how injuries to Ash Handley and Tom Holroyd harmed the Rhinos chances, explaining: “You lose one of the form players in the competition, and a winger at that, early in the game. That’s tough and you lose one of your starting calibre front rowers.”

Whilst he felt the scoreline was harsh, he did accept that Leeds simply weren’t good enough though, adding: “Oh we got beaten in most facets, I think overall. We had some decent patches but not enough today.

“I didn’t feel like the game was ever that type of scoreline, but that’s what it is in the end.”

He continued in his post-match presser, telling BBS Radio Leeds: “Yeah, we weren’t good enough for long enough in most parts of the game. I thought at stages there we looked like we were clawing it back in the second half and the scoreboard was getting closer to on track, but we weren’t good enough with possession in that first half particularly to put a bit of fatigue into the other team.

“They’re very good players playing on the front foot which made it hard to claw it back. Losing a few players with injury was part of it as well. But overall we weren’t able to defend our goal line as well as we have in other games. But part of that was the position that we put ourselves in.”

Leeds Rhinos will now have a week off after being knocked from the Challenge Cup and that weeks’ rest can perhaps offer them a chance to get some players back from injury and suspension ahead of what will be a hotly-anticipated home clash with Huddersfield Giants.