Leeds Rhinos ace Ryan Hall makes 'want to put that right' vow for huge game v St Helens
Beating the league leaders was special, but veteran winger Ryan Hall says what matters to Leeds Rhinos now is coming up with a repeat performance.
After successive wins against fourth-placed Leigh Leopards and table-topping Hull KR, Rhinos move on to Friday’s visit of St Helens - who are fifth in Betfred Super League and one of their bogey teams. Last Sunday’s victory ended a six-match barren run against the Robins, but Leeds haven’t beaten Saints at AMT Headingley since August, 2018, a game Hall played and scored in during his first spell at the club.
“It is a big game and it’s important we back up,” Hall said. “Saints had a good win against Hull FC and they beat us last time so we know they are a good side. They beat us in the Challenge Cup and the league and we’ve only beaten them once this season, so they have got the wood on us so far. We want to put that right at Headingley on Friday.”
If Leeds win they will be only two points off top spot in Betfred Super League and Hull KR have a tough game at fourth-placed Leigh the following day. Hall stressed: “I’ve been at Leeds for quite a few years and we’ve been written off many times. I know this group is different, but that’s when we come good. We’ve won it from fifth twice, so I don’t really care what people say. We are just going to do our best and see where we end up.”
Last Sunday’s win will send Rhinos into Friday’s game in good heart. For Hall, beating his previous club made it extra special. He said: “I had to wait a long time - when I was at Leeds before, players always said how good it was when they beat the team they used to play for, but I never got to do that because I was a Leeds lad and played for them for 12 years.
“When I played for KR I beat Leeds a few times and that was the first time being back with Leeds and beating KR. It is a great feeling, but a lot of things in one. They are top of the league and they’d only lost one game prior to [last week] all season, including the Challenge Cup.
“They are the front-runners, they play the game really well, they are very methodical in what they do, they execute at a high level and with that, they have got a bit of a target on their back. We came with a gun to shoot that target and we got the result.”
The victory was sealed by a spectacular long-range try with the ball moving through six pairs of hands on Leeds’ left before Lachie Miller touched down. Hall, who was on the other flank, said: “It was a great game and it needed a top-level try to win it.
“That’s what we produced. It is such a hard thing to do, come up with that sort of skill when you’re tired. When the ball’s kept in play, it lowers energy levels, because there’s fewer stoppages. As soon as we got the ball in play long enough, we pulled the trigger and that worked. We had some magical players in that play do some magical things. It was a great try to seal the win - on par with the try Leigh scored against Wigan last week.”
The conversion opened a six-point lead with around 10 minutes left, but Rhinos still needed to see the game out, which is something they weren’t able to do in April’s home encounter. Of their approach to the closing stages, Hall revealed: “[We thought] ‘we have come so far, given our all for 70 minutes and just got our noses in front, so don’t be clocking off now and doing something stupid in the last 10. Let’s see this game out and do it justice’. I think we did that, we iced the game and got the win in the end.”