Leeds Rhinos will be ‘better for it’ after their tight-run 25-12 win over Widnes Vikings in the third round of the Challenge Cup with Saturday’s results bucking the trend that had been set on Friday night.
With Super League clubs entering the Challenge Cup in the third round, a number of blowout scores were recorded on Friday night with an aggregate score of 348-14 recorded, however, Saturday’s afternoon games saw Castleford get past Doncaster by a score of just 14-0 and Leeds Rhinos only beat Widnes Vikings 25-12.
Leeds paid great respect to their Championship opponents, taking a shot at goal when just 20 metres out at 6-6 and also taking a late drop goal to convert their lead to three scores as opposed to two, such was Widnes’ threat.
Much of that threat came from the boot of Jordan Abdull with the former Hull KR man terrorising Leeds’ backline at times with Man of the Match Brodie Croft noting the Rhinos’ play one errors, many of which came after an Abdull kick.
Speaking to the Sportsman YouTube channel post-match, Croft said: “Some would say that they didn’t expect this sort of match but to be honest, myself personally and our whole team, we expected it.
“Widnes are a very physical team with some real class players in there and they’re playing some good footy in the Championship. It was everything we expected and more.”
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Leeds Rhinos hardened for Super League round one after Widnes clash
Only leading 18-6 at half-time, Leeds were then pegged back to 18-12 and Croft admitted that the momentum felt against the Rhinos, however, he spoke on the importance of overcoming that ahead of their Super League opener next Friday.
The Australian said: “When it started getting tight there, you could feel their energy and their fans getting behind them. It was tight but that’s what we want going into round one, it gives us a real boost for round one now we’ve had that physicality.We got some knocks out of it and we’ll build from there.”
On the importance of such a test ahead of round one, Croft said: “Definitely, it helps with your mentality. You win them any way you can, sometimes they won’t be as clean as you want but I thought our boys controlled what we could control.
“We’ll probably want to fix up some errors, our play one really hurt us a lot there and kept them in the contest so if we can fix that up for next week then we’ll be better for it.
“That’s our first proper hit out so going into round one we’ll be better for it. We’ve got a few boys coming back for round one so I can’t wait, I’m really looking forward to it.”
As for Leeds’ debutants, which included half-back George Brown who was deployed at full-back and had a solid game, Croft praised the number of youngsters who played.
He said: “They’ve all had a really good pre-season and they’ve been training with the first team for 18 months so it’s pleasing to see them out there. I’m really proud we could get a result fitting for the occasion for them.”
Leeds will find out their round four opponents on Monday night with details of the draw available here.
Leeds Rhinos’ latest transfer pursuit, Hull FC new boy assessed and potential cup ‘upsets’ – Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show here.
