“There didn’t seem much in it” – Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith weighs in on James Bentley incident
Leeds Rhinos v Wakefield Trinity Pre-season Friendly Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge New Signing James Bentley of Leeds Rhinos warms up ahead of the match against Wakefield Trinity during the Pre-season Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUKxCHN Copyright: xStephenxGauntx FIL-16284-0031
Last night was an up and down affair for James Bentley – much like his start to life as a Leeds player.
The second-row got over for a brace of well taken tries before being sin binned in the 30th minute for a big hit on Thomas Minns which initially looked harsh and perhaps was an incident where his reputation proceeded him.
Despite this, his Head Coach Rohan Smith believed he produced a very good and balanced performance: “I thought he had an excellent game. I thought he had a good balance of competing hard and being very effective with what he did.”
Smith also gave his thoughts on the incident which saw Bentley cop a yellow card allowing Wakefield to get back into the game: “I haven’t seen the up close angle of that, I’ve only seen the wider angle and there didn’t seem to be much in it from that angle.
“It’s a fine line, it’s a combat sport.”
Here is the incident in question:
📺| Here is the James Bentley hit from last night. pic.twitter.com/bbjumBRs03
— The Lot Pod (@Lot_17a) May 21, 2022
It’s now likely that Bentley will receive yet another ban and may not be alone in terms of Leeds players facing disciplinary action. Blake Austin was penalised for a dangerous throw inches away from being a tip tackle whilst Mikolaj Oledzki was penalised early in the game for contact with the head. So Leeds could be without three big hitters ahead of their game with Warrington at the start of June.