A win does not always have to be flashy but as long as you play well, you make the coach happy, and in the case of the Leeds Rhinos, they did just that – as they recorded a comfortable win over the London Broncos, winning 30-6.
The win moves the Rhinos up to third on the Super League ladder, and for coach Brian McDermott, he believes the win has shown his side’s character coming through the tough Easter period.
“It was all right tonight,” said McDermott.
“The Warrington game last week was not the one we needed to back-up from after Easter. Tonight was. It was not on TV and not the biggest fixture of the weekend so could have gone under the radar.
“There was a big chance that tonight would be a big test for us and any residue from the Easter period would be there, so I am pretty pleased. I didn’t think it was ugly.”
Despite the easy win, though, McDermott praised the Broncos side, saying it was their defence in the second half that kept the score from being a blow-out.
“London deserve a huge amount of credit. There were times in that game where the scoreboard could have turned into a blow-out, and I think it is more down to their defence than us that it didn’t,” added former London coach McDermott.
“The weather also slowed the game down tonight. We have players that can play on top of the ground but when the heavens open… As a general point, though, we handed the conditions well because we have struggled the last two times we have played in ones like tonight.”
That praise was not echoed by Tony Rea, the London Broncos coach, however, as he felt that some individual performances let his side down when it mattered.
“We lacked control in the first half and I felt we could have built pressure more than we did,” said Rea.
“We were good on effort up to half-time but I watched the first set after it and we missed two tackles which was not good enough. We have individuals working hard but a couple not, so that summed the night up.
“We didn’t get to the kicks, we didn’t compete hard enough on each side of the ball and it’s not our night.”