The occasion got to Leeds Rhinos as their league season began with 14-12 home loss to Wakefield Trinity, coach Brad Arthur felt.
A crowd of 15,364 turned up at a cold and wet AMT Headingley and it was the 1,500 visiting fans who went away happy after Trinity marked their return to Betfred Super League with a shock victory.
Trinity scored all their points in a 10-minute blitz during the second quarter. Leeds managed a try in the final moments of each half, but struggled to make headway against an outstanding Wakefield defence and Rhinos coach Arthur admitted his team lost because they “lacked a vanity of composure, didn’t keep it simple enough”.
He said: “I thought we were a bit erratic. We probably tried too hard as individuals to do things, rather than working together as a team.
“We had some big moments individually that weren’t the best for the team, which put us under a bit of pressure.
“I think maybe the occasion got the better of us and we didn’t handle it as well as they did. Some guys tried too hard, tried to do it all on their own.”
Arthur reckoned his side got “a bit jumpy in defence” early in the game and added: “When we had some ball after that we tried to chase the scoreboard a bit instead of trying to build some pressure and going set-for-set and getting to the end of our sets.
“We were trying to come up with big plays or get something done on our own. In the first half they had 15 minutes with the ball and we had 10.
“We gifted them field position through a couple of errors. We didn’t get to the last tackle and when they got down our end of the field, they got to the last tackle and they scored their first try from a kick.
“We scored a try from a kick just before half-time, but we struggled to get to the end of the tackle count.
“We were doing a lot of passing and moving around without actually having a real plan around it.
“We have got to keep it simpler – earn the right and build some pressure. We didn’t do that.”
One positive for Rhinos was Morgan Gannon’s Super League return after he missed the whole 2024 campaign through concussion. He came off the bench in the second half and twice went close to scoring.
“He was good,” Arthur said. “He gave us a bit of energy, he played nice and straight and direct and he looked dangerous.”
Jarrod O’Connor was named in the initial 21 following a knee injury, but didn’t make the matchday 17.
Arthur said he could be available for next Saturday’s game at Salford Red Devils. Rhinos are likely to be without prop Mikolaj Oledzki who suffered a head injury late in the match.
The Rhinos lose out on the opening day despite tries from Harry Newman and Sam Lisone
Rhinos 12 – 14 Trinity
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