Leeds Rhinos were very unfortunate to not claim the victory against St Helens on Friday night after a scintillating start to the game from the Rhinos.
They led 8-0 early on in the piece after a Luis Roberts try and a pair of Rhyse Martin goals but arguably should have led by more.
This was the way Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith saw things as he stressed after the game. He said: “I thought that was the best game I’ve seen this year in Super League. I thought there were two good teams going at it.
“I really liked it the way we played in the first half, flowed, defended really well, played some good footy, had a lot of front foot sort of opportunities.
“I think probably didn’t capitalise on it points wise but yeah again quality teams sometimes you’ve got to go the distance to get the points and we just weren’t quite able to do that today. But I really like the effort and the intent and the way we went about things and St Helens are a great team and they showed that in the end.”
Leeds Rhinos boss addresses controversial call
Credit: Imago Images
The Leeds Rhinos boss was also asked about a controversial decision that didn’t go his way. Just before St Helens scored back to back tries which gave them an 18-8 lead that they never relinquished, Luis Roberts was deemed to have dropped the ball but there were suspicions of a strip.
Smith said on the error: “I didn’t see the replay I just judged by the reaction to people that saw the replay.
“But those ones, over the course of the game, there’s no referee that’s ever got them all 100% when the ball squirts out.
“Those ones are 50-50 or 60-40 or 40-60 or whatever you know like carry it tighter is my message.”
Leeds will have an opportunity to game revenge next week as they once again host St Helens this time in the Betfred Challenge Cup. Leeds are looking to beat St Helens at home for the first time since 2017 when the old South Stand was demolished.
Leeds last defeated St Helens in the Challenge Cup at Headingley almost exactly a decade ago in 2014.
