“We were good, but we weren’t great” – the first words of Brad Arthur after his Leeds Rhinos side’s 24-16 victory over St Helens.
Leeds produced an entertaining second-half comeback to defeat the Red Vee, with a kicking masterclass from Jake Connor, primarily from the tee, being crucial to their win.
Chris Hankinson, Harry Newman and Maika Sivo crossed for the table-toppers, with Connor’s six conversions giving Leeds the win.
Arthur’s side were sloppy in the first half, with far too many missed opportunities leading to Saints taking a 16-8 lead into the break, but a much more clinical second 40 saw the home side regain the lead with seven minutes to go before extending it with Sivo’s late score.
The boss spoke to Sky Sports following the encounter, and provided his assessment of the action at Headingley.
“We were good, but we weren’t great,” he said. “It’s nice to win a game like that where we had to fight really hard.
“We were a bit frustrated at half-time. We didn’t nail some big moments. Then again, we missed a couple of moments in the second half.
“They [Saints] made the most of their opportunities, but we didn’t go away from it, so that’s a bit of growth in our team.
“The fact that we didn’t let it boil over and we just stuck to it and kept trying to dominate field position, we just knew on the back of field position we’d come up with the win.”
Commenting on the sub-par first 40, Arthur explained:Â “I just think we were lacking a little bit of detail.
“[There was] Frustration in the first half, but we improved it in the second half.”
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Leeds Rhinos beat St Helens 24-16 to end nine-year hoodoo
Leeds have now broken a nine-year losing streak to Saints at Headingley, and as well as that, they also earned revenge from that infamous play-off defeat back in September, where Shane Wright’s last-gasp try saw the Rhinos crash out of the Super League competition.
“I didn’t know much about it, [the nine-year losing run] but that’s the monkey off the back now, isn’t it?
“They’ve had the wood on us, and I’m just happy for the club and happy for the boys and happy for our fans.
Regarding the play-off loss, Arthur added: “I didn’t mention it all week. I knew it would be in the back of their minds, but we didn’t need to come in and try and win that game on emotion.
“We had to win it on our footy and, you know, the process is how we go about our game.”
