Leeds Rhinos suffer huge blow

Leeds Rhinos, after wins over Warrington Wolves, Huddersfield Giants and Salford Red Devils, have now lost to Leigh Leopards, St Helens and Hull KR as questions are asked of the Rhinos whilst their play-off hopes erode week to week.

The Rhinos led against Leigh on Sunday 6-4 with a try from Jarrod O’Connor cancelling out the try for opposite number Edwin Ipape.

However, they lost the second half 9-0 and were beaten by the Leopards and after the game Rohan Smith said on YouTube:

“It was a good contest, tough physical game again we were there or there abouts.

“We were beaten in a couple of critical moments defensively but overall I thought our defence was excellent against a very good attacking team.

“We had some position ourselves but we probably didn’t execute as well as we would have liked and didn’t find the main road.

“I thought the rest of the game we struggled to get a roll on in the rest of the game.”

Smith did reveal that some of his squad struggled going into the game:

“It was a good, hard and physical game and we had a lot of young kids playing in that game today that will be helped by a game like this. It will help them.

“But I can’t fault the effort from our guys today for sure. There were three or four players who were severely under the weather going into that game and they dug in and never hesitated and there were plenty of young kids so there was plenty to learn and plenty to be proud of.”

But in a big blow, the Rhinos have now lost prop Justin Sangare with a torn muscle in his foot:

“He’s got a suspected torn foot muscle.”

Leeds went into the game without Sam Walters. The Wigan Warriors bound prop was left out due to a leg injury as confirmed by the club when the team news was revealed on social media.

Leeds will be hoping Walters is back soon to lessen the blow of losing one of their key forwards and perhaps their most impactful off the bench.