Boss Brad Arthur admits Leeds Rhinos’ “fairytale” win against Hull KR in Las Vegas has raised expectations.
Rhinos ran in 10 tries to thrash the new World Club champions 58-6 at Allegiant Stadium, with Fijian winger Maika Sivo crossing four times during a man of the match display.
Arthur was naturally delighted with the win and performance and knows the victory will have made the rest of Betfred Super League sit up and take notice.
“I could sit there and relax with 10 minutes to go and enjoy it,” the Leeds boss said in his post-match press conference.
“You don’t get too many days like that and we need to enjoy it. I’m just happy everything went to plan for us with our prep. The way our staff prepped the players, I couldn’t ask for any more.
“It’s great, fairytales don’t happen like this all the time, hardly ever, so we’ll lap it up. We’ll enjoy it, but it’s round three. Expectations will rise, and so they should.”
‘We had a ball’ – Leeds Rhinos reveling in Las Vegas win
Arthur was especially delighted for the 6,000 Leeds Rhinos fans who made the long trip to Nevada. He added: “We wanted to make sure we did ourselves proud and our fans and did the competition justice.
“We got an opportunity to come over and represent the Super League and represent the Leeds Rhinos.
“We had thousands of fans travel over and we’d seen the support. We weren’t anticipating it to end that way, but I was anticipating the toughness, the physicality, the real hunger our boys showed.
“It’s just our way of showing our appreciation for being given a great opportunity. We had a ball.”
Sivo scored two tries in last week’s win against York which was his first game since a year-long layoff with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Arthur enthused: “He has been out of the game for a while, but he scored four tries that probably other people can’t or don’t score and he scored two last week that other people can’t score.
“That’s why we got him here. I’m just proud of him because it was tough for him last year. He brought his family, moved them over to the other side of the world and didn’t know anyone.
“The level of expectation was huge on him. He was confident he could do his job and he has done it, but he’s only going to get better.”
Centre Harry Newman, scrum-half Jake Connor and second-row Kallum Watkins all went off in the final stages of Saturday’s game, but Arthur confirmed Leeds came through with no major new injury worries.
“Hopefully that’s two weeks straight everyone’s pulled up all right,” he said. “Harry is fine, Jake was just precautionary.
“Kallum – when I can, I’ll give him opportunities to rest. He wants to stay there for 80 minutes, but when we get in those sorts of positions, we can afford to rest him a bit.”
Serious About Rugby League’s coverage of Leeds Rhinos in Las Vegas is in association with Betfred Super League. Saturday’s showdown at Allegiant Stadium is an early highlight of a packed year of club rugby league action which also includes the Challenge Cup final at Wembley on May 30, Magic Weekend’s blockbuster return to Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on July 4-5 and the Super League Grand Final on October 3 at Old Trafford. Experience live Super League. League Hits Different. To guarantee your place, visit Super League | Tickets
