Mark Applegarth believes that his York Knights side were “served a lesson” following their heavy defeat to Leeds Rhinos.
Applegarth’s men conceded eight tries in a 46-14 defeat to the Super League heavyweights, as Maika Sivo crossed twice on his official debut for the Headingley outfit.
The North Yorkshire side couldn’t replicate their round one heroics of last week, and were given their first example of what life in the top flight is like if not on top form.
The former Wakefield coach spoke to the press following last night’s tie, and gave an honest review of what his men served up.
Giving credit to their opponents, Applegarth began by saying the side were outplayed all across the park.
“First and foremost, I thought Leeds were excellent, if I’m honest with you,” he explained.
“We knew they were going to respond after last week, especially with a few of the changes they’ve brought in. I thought we got served a bit of a lesson, if I’m perfectly blunt.
“I thought we started well in the game, but then back-to-back tries really cost us. I think Leeds Rhinos are probably one of the best, if not the best team when they’re playing on the front foot like that. We started chasing the game a little bit, came up with some lack of composure, some moments there.”
Tries from Sivo (30′), Lachie Miller (33′) Â Chris Hankinson (38′) turned a 6-6 scoreline into a 22-6 half-time lead, something that killed the game off, and York were never able to recover.
He continued: “When you get into that vicious cycle against a team with as much quality as Leeds, it’s very difficult to swing back momentum.
“I thought we got served a lesson in that sense. [We have] some really good stuff that we could get after this week, especially some one-to-one skill execution, both attack and defensively.
“We knew we were going to have an up-and-down year in terms of, we weren’t going to get 23 wins on the bounce like we did last year. We knew there were going to be some decent highs and some pretty stinging losses. This is definitely that.
“We need to learn a lesson quickly, such as what Leeds have just served up there about responding in the right manner. Fair play to Leeds, I thought they outplayed us today. We’ll be moving on now onto Hull FC.
“We’ll dust ourselves down, we’ll review it pretty honestly tomorrow morning, and then we’ll take what we need out of it and move forward on to next Friday.”
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York Knights boss explains Ata Hingano’s absence
A match-winner and history-maker last week, York were without half-back Ata Hingano for their trip to Headingley, after picking up a knock in the victory over Hull KR.
The former Salford man was named in the 21-man squad, but failed to make the 17, and was replaced by Nikau Williams, who partnered Liam Harris in the playmaking role.
Commenting on why Hingano didn’t feature, Applegarth explained: “Ata got a bit of a tight half after the game.
“He was 50-50, and with it being this early in the season, we just didn’t want to risk it, because obviously he’s an important player for us.
“He should be there or thereabouts for next week, though. But as I said, fair play to Leeds Rhinos tonight, I thought they were excellent.”
Asked if his absence was a deciding factor in the game, he said: “I don’t know, I don’t think it were any individual. I just think we got beat in the areas that we probably would have been OK in last week.
“You speak as a coach about tactics and things. Sometimes someone just either runs harder, tackles harder or works harder than you, and I thought Leeds were excellent in them little effort areas.
Compound that with how much possession they had on us defending back to back sets, you know, it’s going to take its toll… some really good lessons that we can take out of that.”
