Leeds Rhinos boss' 'doesn't mean anything' warning after win v Wigan Warriors
Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur saw some positive signs, but insisted the 22-4 win over Wigan Warriors in Ash Handley’s testimonial game counts for nothing.
“I’m pleased for Ash,” Arthur said after seeing his side out-score last year’s all-conquering team by four tries to one. “It’s nice for the club and nice for Ash, but the game doesn’t mean anything, really.
“It was for both teams to get some run in their legs and some work physically and get their bodies bashed around a little bit and hardened. We did that and the conditions played into that sort of game where it was a bit bash and barge. “
Leeds led 12-0 inside the opening quarter, but then made a series of errors and conceded four successive penalties. “I like our positive response to a couple of ill-discipline moments,” Arthur reflected.
“There were a couple of penalties out of red zone and on the back of that another penalty and then we defended our line for four or five sets. That pleased me, that our reaction and response was good to some negative things we did - instead of dropping our heads, we just got on with it. In hindsight now, I am happy those things happened to see how we did respond. We can build on that back of that.”
Arthur fielded his strongest-available starting 13 and gave some academy players an opportunity in the second half, as did Wigan. Leeds’ youngsters had similar game time in the Christmas win over Wakefield and Arthur said: “It’s good, it helps them 12-18 months down the track.
“Now they can go away and they know what they’ve got to work on and where they are at physically and it will help shape their next pre-season. That was the idea behind it. They’ve done a bit of training with us, so it’s good to reward them with those opportunities too.”
After a man of the match performance on Boxing Day, new signing Jake Connor again impressed for Leeds. “There was some stuff from the first game,” Arthur reflected. “Everyone was talking about how good he was, but I was disappointed with some of the stuff he did effort-wise and defensively. This time he probably wasn’t as flashy, but he did a lot of good detail around his job as a full-back.”