Leeds Rhinos women 10, York Valkyrie 12

Yorkshire Evening Post

Interim-coach Leon Crick reflects on Leeds Rhinos' narrow loss to York Valkyrie in their Women's Super League semi-final.

Transcript

00:00I mean, it was a fantastic effort, a great effort for the women's game,

00:07but those triplicate efforts just kicked off, didn't they?

00:10Yeah, I said that to them when we just got round each other then,

00:12I think you couldn't fault the effort tonight,

00:15I think they all stuck at it,

00:17it's probably easier at 12-0 to kind of crumble a little bit,

00:20not give up, but kind of just struggle to find the answers,

00:24but they stuck at it and I think they only got better and better

00:27as the last sort of 20 minutes went on,

00:29but 60 minutes where we didn't really challenge York enough

00:32to be able to get into the game,

00:33and it was just a little bit too late when we started doing it.

00:35Yeah, you were on the back foot throughout the first half,

00:39weren't you? That must have taken a lot of pressure off the team as well.

00:41Yeah, it would have done.

00:43We said at half-time we kind of did too much defending,

00:47it just felt like we spent the first 40 minutes in our half,

00:50I think we got out into their 20-0 once, twice,

00:53so we didn't get an opportunity to challenge York at all,

00:56so I think that's something we've got to kind of take on the chin,

00:59that's probably off the back of we could have run a little bit harder,

01:02I think we could have tackled a bit harder

01:04and dominated the rucks, which we did do,

01:06so yeah, we kind of were almost enemies in that first half

01:09and gave ourselves too much to do.

01:10What spurred you really to get so close in that last 15 minutes?

01:14Yeah, you could just tell they were all up for it,

01:17ultimately they just couldn't quite get over the line,

01:20obviously two tries apiece in a game like that,

01:23and then a near-on-impossible kick from a touchline at the end,

01:26which obviously made it hard.

01:28Just on that try at the end,

01:30we thought there was maybe a pull-back on the winger,

01:35I suppose if it had been a penalty try,

01:37it would have been in front of the fence, wouldn't it?

01:40You'll have to check me out, Rosie,

01:42I don't think so because it wasn't in the act of scoring,

01:44so I think if Evie would have been in the act of scoring,

01:47we'd have got an eight-point try,

01:48but I don't think she was, to be fair,

01:51I think they made the right call on that one.

01:53How's Bella tagged you, obviously?

01:55It's a blow losing one of your own players,

01:57it's only ten minutes, isn't it?

01:58Yeah, she went off a lot earlier than we would have hoped,

02:01but she kind of got herself back right,

02:03I thought she was brilliant when she went back on.

02:06Every message we gave her at half-time in terms of running harder

02:09and turning up for your mates,

02:10Bella was doing that in the second half,

02:13I thought she was brilliant.

02:14And when the dust settles on this,

02:16will you look back on it as a positive campaign?

02:18It's been a lot of disruption with injuries and people leaving and everything,

02:21but to get second in the table,

02:24got to Wembley,

02:25it's been another decent year, hasn't it?

02:28Yeah, it's been a decent year,

02:32but I think we set a standard higher than that.

02:34We got to Wembley, we didn't really perform then,

02:36and we've got to a semi-final and we've kind of done the same,

02:38but we've got a lot of young players

02:41that will just be better for experiencing nights like this,

02:46and the future's really bright.

02:48We've got a lot of our senior players that still look to go around again,

02:51and obviously you see Ebony and the two Rubies,

02:54and there's plenty more coming through,

02:55so they'll definitely be better for it.

02:57Ebony was very good today, wasn't she?

02:59Yeah, I thought she was outstanding at the back,

03:02she got a lot thrown at her in terms of fielding kicks,

03:04and she returned well, she carried hard,

03:06I thought she was brilliant.

03:08What's the difference, would you say, between the two sides this afternoon?

03:13They just got going quicker than we did, I think.

03:17We didn't get going for the entire first half,

03:20so we kind of didn't give ourselves an opportunity

03:22to score any tries early on,

03:24or get any points on the board.

03:26So, yeah, they just got going quicker than us,

03:28and like I said, I think you've got to take it on the chin,

03:30they probably dominated the rook in terms of running hard,

03:33tackling hard, and you're not going to win a game if that's happening.

03:36And their defence was just superb,

03:38was it in terms of keeping you paid back throughout the full 80 minutes?

03:41Yeah, their defence was good, I don't think we challenged it enough,

03:45we certainly didn't throw at them what I think we're capable of doing,

03:49so yeah, they defended well, they dealt with what we threw at them,

03:52but I don't think what we threw at them was good enough either.

03:55Wonderful, and then to go into next season,

03:57and as you say, are the young players learning more from this experience?

04:00Yeah, they'll learn loads from being around it,

04:04and hopefully, I mean it'll hurt a little bit now,

04:07but hopefully they'll come back stronger for it,

04:09because ultimately when you lose, you kind of want to fix things up,

04:12get better, and not lose again, don't you?

04:15So they'll only be better for what's happened tonight,

04:18they won't feel like it now, but they will do well.

04:20Just a word on Hannah Butcher, 100 appearances for the club,

04:22how important has she been to you as a captain in these last few weeks?

04:25She's been class, because everything you ask of the team,

04:29Hannah does it without asking anyway,

04:32but we said before the game and we had a bit of a presentation for her,

04:35since she came to trial seven years ago,

04:38she's literally just been one of the best people to have around the squad.

04:41She works so hard in training, in games,

04:44all the players all look up to her, and she's brilliant to have around.

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