Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur talks Las Vegas 'fairytale' v Hull KR, thanks fans, makes 'expectations' point
After the big win over York Knights eight days earlier, Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur said he hoped the Las Vegas clash with Hull KR would be a thriller which went right to the final minute.
It didn’t, but Arthur was still “pretty happy” after what he felt was a “fairytale” 80 minutes at Allegiant Stadium. “I could sit there and relax with 10 minutes to go and enjoy it,” the Leeds boss reflected after his side thrashed the new World Club champions 58-6 in what he described as the best performance since he took over as coach in July, 2024.
“It was great,”Arthur said. “You don’t get too many days like that and we need to enjoy it. I’m just happy everything went to plan for us with our prep. The way our staff prepped the players, I couldn’t ask for any more.
“It’s great, fairytales don’t happen like this all the time, hardly ever, so we’ll lap it up. We’ll enjoy it, but it’s round three. Expectations will rise, and so they should.”
Arthur was especially delighted for the 6,000 Leeds fans who made the long trip to Nevada. He added: “We wanted to make sure we did ourselves proud and our fans and did the competition justice. We got an opportunity to come over and represent the Super League and represent the Leeds Rhinos.
“We had thousands of fans travel over and we’d seen the support. We weren't anticipating it to end that way, but I was anticipating the toughness, the physicality, the real hunger our boys showed. It's just our way of showing our appreciation for being given a great opportunity. We had a ball.”
It was a superb team performance, with winger Maika Sivo grabbing the headlines as he crossed four times to take his try tally in two games since returning from a year-long injury layoff to six, but Arthur feels he is still a few weeks short of his best. He said: “He has been out of the game for a while, but he scored four tries that probably other people can’t or don’t score and he scored two last week that other people can’t score.
“That's why we got him here. I’m just proud of him because it was tough for him last year. He brought his family, moved them over to the other side of the world and didn’t know anyone, the level of expectation was huge on him. He was confident he could do his job and he has done it, but he's only going to get better.”
Centre Harry Newman, scrum-half Jake Connor and second-row Kallum Watkins all went off in the final stages, but Arthur confirmed Leeds came through with no major new injury worries. “Hopefully that’s two weeks straight everyone's pulled up all right,” he said.
“Harry is fine, Jake was just precautionary. Kallum - when I can, I’ll give him opportunities to rest. He wants to stay there for 80 minutes, but when we get in those sorts of positions, we can afford to rest him a bit.”
The Yorkshire Evening Post’s coverage of Leeds Rhinos in Las Vegas is in association with Betfred Super League. Saturday’s showdown between Rhinos and Hull KR at Allegiant Stadium is an early highlight of a packed year of club rugby league action which also includes the Challenge Cup final at Wembley on May 30, Magic Weekend’s blockbuster return to Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium on July 4-5 and the Super League Grand Final on October 3 at Old Trafford. Experience live Super League. League Hits Different. To guarantee your place, visit Super League | Tickets.