Last night we were blessed with three close encounters in the Betfred Super League. Wigan again edged Huddersfield, Salford damaged Wakefield’s play-off hopes with an impressive win against Trinity whilst, for the second week in a row, the Rhinos failed to capitalise on a dominant first half against Catalans allowing the league leaders to win a ninth game in a row. That’s how I saw it, but what was social media’s take?
Let’s start with the headline match between Catalans and Leeds. It’s safe to say Leeds fans weren’t best pleased with their second half showing. Many were infuriated by the fact it was a carbon copy of their loss to Catalans at Headingley.
— Rhinos Faithful 💙💛 (@RhinosFaithful) July 16, 2021
That said, Leeds did have one or two key players missing and perhaps their loss of momentum could be attributed to their absence.
Severely hope we’ve got Oledzki and Tetevano back v Salford next Friday, aswell as Vuniyayawa, Handley and Martin.
— Rhinos Faithful 💙💛 (@RhinosFaithful) July 16, 2021
Dare I say it, we’ve missed Lui’s control in them two second halves?
— Rhinos Faithful 💙💛 (@RhinosFaithful) July 16, 2021
Speaking of Rob Lui’s absence, some Leeds fans felt coach Richard Agar made a mistake in not playing the impressive Kruise Leeming at stand-off.
Leeming has to partner Gale on Friday
No messing about
— LoinersView (@loinersview) July 17, 2021
Despite the myriad of excuses Leeds fans could’ve come out with, plenty went down the same line of thought as Richard Agar and believed the Rhinos couldn’t blame the loss on anyone but themselves.
Yes it will have been hot and draining. Yes we were without 2/3 forwards who would have helped. But at some point this season we're going to have to stop looking for excuses.
The table doesn't care about which players we had available or how tough our run of fixtures was…
— Leeds Rhinos Newsroom (@RhinosNewsroom) July 16, 2021
That said, some fans interestingly claimed that they weren’t worried in the slightest by the loss.
https://twitter.com/krisleeds/status/1416150871600242691?s=20
Leeds may have run out of steam in the second stanza but their loss wasn’t simply down to a lack of energy. The Dragons were superb in the second half and were led expertly by Josh Drinkwater. He was perhaps the difference in the end.
Josh drinkwater 👌🏉
— Chaz (@ChazHKR1) July 16, 2021
That was despite a huge error from him in the first half which certainly raised one or two eyebrows.
Worst try finish of the season by Tom Briscoe, no doubt about it.
Hold my beer says Josh Drinkwater.#SLCatLee pic.twitter.com/n7fOsaHu8G
— Truth Talking Maverick (@TruthTalkingMav) July 16, 2021
Elsewhere, Wigan came up with a gutsy win against Huddersfield. Some fans felt it was the beginning of an important resurgence for the Warriors.
https://twitter.com/BrolyAdonis2021/status/1416134709260820489?s=20
In general, plenty of Wigan fans were proud of the youngsters who have helped get their season back on track.
Fair play to these youngsters..stood up bigtime..
— Sam Beale (@bilko2805) July 16, 2021
On the other hand, Huddersfield may have lost, but there were one or two positives for the Giants including a first Super League try for young starlet Will Pryce.
Enjoyed this one. Will Pryce is some player. https://t.co/N7k8Xi8iqZ
— Matt Horton (@MattHortonRadio) July 17, 2021
I think I might start a gofundme to keep Will Pryce with @Giantsrl forever
— Welsh Giants (@GiantsWelsh) July 17, 2021
Unsurprisingly, it’s not just Huddersfield fans keen to see how Pryce plays in the future. Many Wigan supporters are hoping that one day they may see him in a Cherry and White shirt.
Hopefully @WiganWarriorsRL are watching too! 👀 pic.twitter.com/2DOya4sTwU
— Chris Holme (@chrisholme1983) July 17, 2021
Elsewhere, it was a disappointing night for Wakefield as they succumbed to defeat against Salford. It’s safe to say Trinity fans were divided by the result.
Here we go again with the team bashing , don’t tell me it’s cheaters fault , AGAIN !!. It’s sport people and 1team wins and 1 will lose . How do you expect positivity from players when so called fans start the tirade of team slagging . Just my opinion haters
— anthony (@anthony76442412) July 16, 2021
Utterly shocking performance no excuses deserved defeat no leaders on the pitch no brains, no desire and no idea
— Lee Smith (@lee505smith1) July 16, 2021
Unsurprisingly, Salford fans were less divided and were pleased with the vital win.
Ace performance, need to work on our game management from winning positions tho crikey.
— Bondy (@bondy1971) July 16, 2021
Great win. Defence really good and attack much improved. Get rid of the mistakes and we'd have won that much easier. Really enjoyed luckley performance tonight – looks a decent player. Pauli and ika were excellent and tui good with ball in hand 👏
— Torry amante (@AmanteTorry) July 16, 2021
Warrington Wolves
Sam Burgess makes decision on future following South Sydney links
Huddersfield Giants
Jake Connor takes swipe at Leeds Rhinos fans
