Rhinos left hunting for first win after defeat to Dragons
LEEDS RHINOS had only themselves to blame as they went down to a third defeat in as many games this season, losing 10-4 at home to Catalans Dragons last night.
A few things went against them, but Leeds didn’t do enough to take the points.
It was a dispiriting performance, lacking spark with ball in hand and a very poor game overall, Despite taking the lead, Rhinos never gained the upper hand and there were boos from the South Stand at the final whistle.
The scores were locked 4-4 at the end of the first half which finished 59 minutes after it had been due to start.
One try each was a fair reflection of a dour opening 40 which lacked intensity and open rugby. The tries were scored three minutes apart and other than that, not a lot happened.
Catalans went in front early in the second period and though they had a touchdown ruled out soon afterwards, Rhinos didn’t look like pulling it back.
The home team didn’t create enough. They let Catalans dictate the pace and couldn’t make much headway even when the visitors were reduced to 12 men in the final quarter.
Rhinos went big, with Matt Prior, Zane Tetevano and Mikolaj Oledzki – a substitute in the two previous games – all in the starting 13.
The planned forward rotation was thrown out of balance inside the opening three minutes when Alex Mellor was hurt. That caused a long stoppage before he left the field on a stretcher.
Bodene Thompson replaced Mellor and had a strong game. Other than that, it was difficult to pick out anyone else who particularly played well for Leeds, though Blake Austin was official man of the match.
Later in the first half, Austin went off for a head injury assessment after a tackle involving Michael McIlorum, who caught him high with an open hand and then seemed to land on the Leeds man. There was no penalty and Austin returned for the second half.
It was 23 minutes before the deadlock was broken and, for the second successive game, Austin opened the scoring. A drop out and penalty put Catalans under pressure, then Austin took a pass
from Sezer, stepped past Whare, seemed about to lose the ball, but managed to stretch over through Mitchell Pearce’s attempted tackle.
Sezer’s kick hit a post and Catalans were level within three minutes when – after successive penalties – Fouad Yaha went
over at the corner from a long pass by Sam Tomkins, whose conversion attempt rebounded away off a post. It was clearly a try, but referee Jack Smith asked Chris Kendall to check for a foul by Liam Tindall as Yaha touched down, but the video assistant decided not.
Yaha and Tindall were involved in the lead up to Dragons’ second try, on 50 minutes. Tindall seemed to be shoved off the ball by the Catalans man, but referee Smith gave the visitors six more tackles and in that set Joe Chan strolled through a big gap in the defence from Sam Kasiano’s pass.