Leigh Leopards struggling after unfortunate trip back from France

Leigh Leopards have already suffered a blow ahead of their clash against the high flying Hull KR.

This is because the Leopards were late back from their defeat in France to the Catalans Dragons.

Adrian Lam explained the situation on the Leopards’ Facebook page revealing they will only be able to train once before the game.

“Very long day, extra extra long really,” coach Lam said.

We didn’t end up flying out of Perpignan till 1pm the next afternoon, so we were stuck there for that whole day. It sort of messed up the recovery and the travel back but you just get on with it. It was an enjoyable trip there, albeit long. I thought as a team we played pretty tough, we just lacked a bit of game smarts and game sense at crucial times but I think we’re in a good position.

“It’s going to be a tough week for us after such a short turn around. We will probably only get one opportunity to train this week on the captain’s run.

“We’re giving the players the best opportunity to recover and rest because it was such a difficult test and not being able to fly out till the next day takes a toll on your body so we are trying to get the players right with recovery and rehab.

“That is the priority this week and I don’t think it will take any shine off who we want to be as a team.

“We had some good meetings today and yesterday as a team about where we want to be.”

Lam also gave his verdict on Hull KR:

“They’re going good at the moment, they’re two from two and had a really good win away at Salford who beat us in round one. We need to go there with the right attitude, we need to bounce back from last weeks’ performance and play that little bit better than what we’ve done. Whilst we’re defending well we’ve still got some improvement in all areas and that’s where the challenge will be.”

Meanwhile, Lam also gave his view on the difference between Super League and the Championship:

“It’s what Super League is all about and it’s where we want to be as a club and a team. We worked really hard in the Championship over the last 12 months to be in this position so we’re excited about it. We’re excited about where we are with our rugby, we’re aware it will take time. There’s a lot of new faces in the group, I think there’s 13 new signings and eight made their debut last week. Out of that eight I think seven started, so when you’re looking at the numbers within the 17 players there’s a lot of change that is happening. We have to be positive and persistent with allowing the group to find their way. I know we’re in a good place, it’ll take a little bit of time but when we get there it’ll be fine.”