Leeds Rhinos 8, St Helens 18: YEP video review

YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on Leeds Rhinos' Super League defeat by St Helens.

Transcript

00:00 Disappointing night here at AMT Headingley where Leeds Rhinos have been beaten 18 points to 8 by St Helens.

00:10 Maybe the 10 point margin flattered Saints a little bit but there's no doubt they deserved the 2 points in Super League.

00:17 The sides will meet here again in exactly a weeks time in the Challenge Cup.

00:21 Leeds should have a couple of players back then, Paul Momorowski might be available after his injury.

00:27 And Sam Lisson will be in the contention following a 3 match ban.

00:32 Leeds will feel that that might give them some confidence going into that game.

00:37 They should take some positives out of the way they played tonight.

00:41 Particularly in the first half an hour when they dominated proceedings.

00:46 They were 8-0 up, managed to create 2 chances, took 1 of them.

00:51 And had Saints rocking a little bit but Saints are a very good side.

00:54 They hung in there and they took advantage of Leeds mistakes.

00:58 They were the better team for the final 50 minutes here it has to be said.

01:01 Although there wasn't an awful lot in it, really Leeds were punished for their errors.

01:08 There was a knock on led to Saints first try.

01:12 The second also came from a knock on call.

01:17 And there was a kick out on the full after the restart from that one which led to the third try.

01:23 Those two tries in as many minutes midway through the half really strung in at Saints as well.

01:28 And Leeds never looked like getting back into it after that.

01:31 Leeds discipline was good, I think they only conceded 3 penalties which is an impressive effort.

01:38 There were some good individual performances at times.

01:41 Lackey Miller had an outstanding first half, looked a real threat with ball in hand and made a couple of good tackles.

01:46 But he dropped away a little bit in the second half and it was his kick out on the full which proved costly.

01:52 Shame for Ash Hanley who didn't get any attacking opportunities really, no running chances.

01:58 And his try scoring run came to an end.

02:02 Leeds are certainly still in this little series.

02:06 They'd probably settle for losing today if they could win next week.

02:10 They'll have to make good use of what they've learnt about Saints and about themselves from tonight.

02:16 They're certainly not out of contention for the cup tie.

02:19 They'll have to play as well as they did in the first 30 minutes for the whole 80 now to get to the top.

02:25 This Saints side who are a good team defended very strongly and took their chances when they can.

02:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]