Brad Arthur has given his verdict after Leeds Rhinos defeated Bradford Bulls 24-12 at Odsal in the first Super League meeting between the sides in 12 years.
The Leeds boss was left proud with his sides’ effort and physicality throughout the game, and that is what he thinks decided the way the two points ultimately went.
“The three words I used to describe our performance last week was tough, gritty and composed,” he said to Sky Sports post-match.
“I thought we backed that up today and that was what we were after, to repeat that. I probably feel like that’s been our best win. [It’s a] tough place to come, tough conditions, very hard.
“We like to play expansive and it’s hard to get around them on the tighter pitch, so I thought physically we were very, very good today.”
Despite going into the half-time break 8-6 down, Arthur was happy with how his side fought through the opening 40, and that then allowed Leeds to exploit a tired Bulls side later in the tie.
Arthur added: “We felt like we dominated in the first half and we kept poking our nose through.
“Our post-contact metres were really good with the ball and we were good in the rucks, so we felt like we dominated.
“We just needed to wait and the time would come when it would become hard work for them and we’d just finish over the top.”
After back-to-back wins, Leeds find themselves top of the Super League table for the first time under Arthur. Had they not have failed to perform against Wakefield and Hull, they could be looking at both a Challenge Cup Quarter-Final and an even healthy lead at the top this week.
“We’ve had two halves of footy that weren’t at our standard and they cost us two games,” explained the boss. “The thing is, these guys have got a high standard and a high expectation at the moment.
“They expect to win all the time and when it gets tight and it’s tough, sometimes our frustration can boil over into our performance.
“The last two weeks, we’ve learnt from what we got wrong against Hull. Teams are going to come after us and they’re going to put us under pressure and we need to see that as a privilege. We’ve earned that right and we need to handle it and enjoy it and go after it.”
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