Catalans Dragons 26 Leeds Rhinos 0: coach Rohan Smith's reaction

Leeds Rhinos coach Rohan Smith reflects on his side's 26-0 defeat at Catalans Dragons.

Transcript

00:00 So, any questions?

00:02 That was a tough one to take, obviously.

00:04 Yeah, I thought it was a really spirited performance. We played hard.

00:09 I guess a really professional, experienced team today on their own patch and their own conditions.

00:15 I thought we made a really good account of ourselves.

00:17 There's been a bunch of games, I reckon, in Super League lately where the final scoreline hasn't reflected the battle that it was.

00:24 I thought the better team won today, for sure, but we weren't that far away.

00:30 So, there's a lot to take out of that, how we attacked the game and how we stuck at it.

00:35 But it's hard to take at the same time. We let ourselves down in some execution areas.

00:43 Didn't apply enough pressure to the opposition.

00:46 Was it errors and penalties, you think, that were the main cause of your downfall?

00:51 Well, in the end, you've got to find a way to defend it.

00:56 For much of the game, we did.

00:58 The length of the field try against the runner-play, that was an attacking error that cost us points directly.

01:07 That was a key moment in the game.

01:09 But most of our errors, we found a way to defend, to find a way to get the ball back.

01:17 It was great to see, not great to concede, but it was great to see a penalty for offside off the kick-off.

01:27 Because teams are always offside.

01:30 And he found that moment at 78 minutes for a player that wasn't contesting the ball.

01:37 That was pleasing to see, that element.

01:41 We didn't need to go short on that occasion.

01:44 We should have gone long, but good to see the rules being applied on occasion.