Leeds Rhinos boss proud of 'building block', win v Wigan Warriors, issues 'can't leave it here' warning

Having led 6-0 in the first half, Rhinos were four points behind until 13 minutes from time, when a bizarre try set up Jake Connor’s winning conversion. Jack Sinfield touched down after Connor’s kick bounced off the head of veteran winger Ryan Hall, who was making his 500th career appearance and received a guard of honour off the field from his teammates after the final whistle.

“I am really happy and proud for Ryan Hall,” Arthur said. “The spirit the boys played with, they wanted to make sure he came off the field a winner. That’s the pleasing thing for the club, the players actually care - they care about the jersey and the badge they are wearing.”

Wigan boss Matt Peet said it was the first time he had seen a try scored that way and Arthur admitted: “That’s very rare, but we will take the four points any way we can get them. At the end of the day, that’s the rules, it’s a try. It doesn’t look pretty, but we’ll take it.”

The coach was pleased for Sinfield, who had just come on as Rhinos’ replacement hooker. “He’s a good kid,” he said. “He tries hard and does all the right things. He is still learning his craft and he just wants to be in the team. He’s tough and physical and I am happy for him.”

With the result going down to the final play and there never being more than six points between the team and Arthur felt the game was a good advert for Betfred Super League. “They [Wigan] wouldn’t be disappointed with how they played either, because they played well,” he reflected. “Especially in the first half, it was high quality - we made two errors and they made three. It was end-to-end footy and a bit of attrition.”

After back-to-back league and Challenge Cup defeats, Arthur reckons the win will boost the team’s self-belief, but stressed it means nothing if they don’t back it up at Warrington Wolves on Friday. He said: “It’s good for confidence, it is a good reward. I thought we played well last week, we just had a window of six or seven minutes when we lacked a bit of concentration and it cost us.

“I am really pleased we get a bit of confidence out of it, knowing if we stick at it and keep grinding away, those wins will become more frequent. Now we just need to add a bit of polish to what we are doing. We are still a growing team, one that’s had four or five months together, not four or five years. We are learning what works and how we want to play.”

He added: “It’s a building block, but it’s no good if we leave it here. That’s how we need to be every week. I feel like effort-wise and physicality, we have been. It’s just with the football we’ve been a little bit inconsistent at times.”