'Knows more about the game than I do': Leeds Rhinos coach hails Jake Connor after win v Bradford Bulls

Rhinos trailed 6-0 early on and were only 18-12 ahead soon after half-time, but a spectacular 80-metre 40-20 kick by Connor turned the game Leeds’ way. The scrum-half was involved in all four of the hosts’ second half tries and Arthur paid him an outstanding compliment.

Asked after the match about his role in Connor’s development since his arrival at Leeds ahead of last season, Arthur stressed: “He probably knows more about the game than I do. I can’t teach him about footy, it’s just around mentality and a bit of patience, control, how he talks to the team, how he engages with people in the game and outside of the game, how he engages with the crowd without letting it affect his footy.

“He has done a really good job, the boys all like him and he has worked hard. I feel like he is getting to that stage where he is right at the top of his game, he is in control and he doesn’t get flustered in big moments any more. He owns them and he steps up and if he doesn’t quite get it right he’ll go back and work out what he needs to do better.”

Of the 40-20, Arthur enthused: “It was a big moment. Jake has come up with plenty of those big moments for us throughout the season. He nailed it and on the back of that we got a bit of momentum.

“When we were at Bradford earlier in the season he kicked one the same, but on a smaller pitch. It was a fair kick - at the time I was thinking ‘what are you doing?’, but I’ll back him. It swung the momentum and that’s the thing I am really happy about with Jake, he is playing with a lot more control.

“He doesn’t take as many chances, he takes more calculated plays now. That was a more calculated play whereas maybe 12-18 months ago it was more chance, chance, chance.”

Overall, Arthur was pleased with the win which lifted Leeds two points clear at the top of Betfred Super League, but admitted it wasn’t Rhinos’ best performance. Leeds lost top try scorer Maika Sivo to a suspected broken arm and the coach said: “I was really happy how courageous we were around a lot of positional changes, especially early.

“We had to use four changes in the first half and I was really happy with that part of it. I thought we were pretty resilient, but it was a low completion rate. I need to be careful around how aggressive I am with them around some of those errors and pushed passes, we can play with a bit more control at times.

“The flip side of it is that’s how we play, but a 65 per cent completion rate is not going to cut it moving forward. Sometimes we have got to be prepared to take that tackle and we might get them on the next play.

“I’ve seen us come up with those plays - big plays and big moments - and score tries from them so it’s a fine line, but we need to get a better feel for the situation. If you’ve made one or two in a row, do you really want to push the third, fourth or fifth in a row? I felt like we left a few points out there, but at least we were able to defend it this week.”

James McDonnell scored a brace of tries for the second successive game. “Macca was really good,” Arthur noted. “He got moved into the centres and did a great job. We let him down last week, which was his 100th [Super League] game.

“This was his 100th for Leeds and we owed it to him because he has been really good this year. He has been really consistent and reliable every week. He has really worked hard on his game and it’s growing and getting better each week.

“He is growing in confidence, he builds everything around his physicality and his effort and he has started to add a bit more skill and class to his game.”

Acting-captain Kallum Watkins was also a try scorer, in an 80-minute performance. Arthur reflected: “Kal did a good job. He led our physicality. We have been trying to manage him the best we can with his game time and looking after him, but we needed a big effort from him today and he had to stay there. He had to get the job done and he did it as the captain.”