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  • 5 months ago
YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on a poor night for Leeds Rhinos as they slumped to a shock defeat in by Catalans Dragons in the final home game of the regular Betfred Super League season.
Transcript
00:00You can probably see behind me the Leeds Rhinos players are doing their traditional lap of appreciation after the final home game of the regular season.
00:10Whether it is the final game of the entire season here at AMT Headingley, we shall have to wait and see.
00:17It's still in Leeds' hands to finish in the top floor, but it's going to be a difficult task for them now after this very, very disappointing and frustrating 16-8 home must to Catalan's Dragons.
00:29Leeds Rhin may be due to a poor performance after five consecutive wins and with everybody getting carried away a little bit about their prospects of maybe going on and winning the trophy this season, winning the grand final.
00:44I think tonight showed that they're still some way away from that.
00:49It's probably the poorest performance of the season, or at least the poorest since they went to Catalan's in March and were beaten in similar fashion.
00:58At least they managed to score tonight, but it was too late and two tries each.
01:04The difference was the kicking of the Catalan's full-back, Espira Bichet, who looks a good prospect.
01:11He converted their two tries and booted a couple of penalty goals, and lucky Milan missed both conversions for Leeds.
01:19You'd have to say Catalans deserved it. They aren't fun to watch. It was scrappy. Their spoiling tactics dragged the game down, but it worked.
01:27They got what they came for, which was the two points. Leeds need to be much better.
01:33They say, well, Leeds can't play without Jake Connor now, and that's a fair enough inference after tonight.
01:39Leeds certainly need him back and fit for next week at Wigan and for the playoffs.
01:43Nobody played well, I don't think. A couple of players could come off of their head, aren't they?
01:47People like Ryan Hall who scored the spectacular try, but overall they were flat, a long way below their standards.
01:57They played a lot of panic rugby. They didn't operate as a unit, which is something they've been very good at in recent games.
02:05There was no patience. It was just a very poor performance, a very flat performance in front of a good crowd of more than 15,000 on a miserable night on a Thursday against Catalans.
02:17That was a good effort, but most of them have gone home disappointed. I'm afraid they will be going home when they've met the players and got autographs.
02:26So, we'll have to see if Leeds are back here in the playoffs. They're certainly going to have to improve quite significantly if they do get home tied,
02:35or whoever they play in the playoffs, which is probably going to be some help as well.
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