Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur talks '80-minute performance', hails Tom Holroyd and debutant Zak Lloyd

Rhinos led 18-0 at half-time and ran in eight tries to maintain their two point advantage over second-placed Wigan Warriors, who were 20-8 victors at Leigh Leopards. Wakefield Trinity are another two adrift and play their game in hand at Catalans Dragons on Saturday.

Rhinos visit Wakefield next Friday and Arthur felt the win against Toulouse was ideal preparation. “It was the closest we’ve got to 80-minutes,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I was pretty happy with that performance.

“I thought we showed good resilience and fight and our attitude was good too. I asked for a bit extra from the boys around our effort and physicality and they delivered. I thought the opposition were really good early, they tried hard and made us fight and we were probably fortunate to go in at half-time 18-0 ahead, but that was exactly what we needed.”

Leeds had rookies Riley Lumb and Ned McCormack on their left-edge and teenager Zak Lloyd made his debut off the bench. Arthur said: “Our senior players did a really good job, standing up and leading from the front to make it easier for the other boys to do their job.

“Tom Holroyd was unreal off the bench. I said I needed him to stay out there because I wanted to look after Mikolaj [Oledzki] and Cooper [Jenkins] and get some time into Presley [Cassell]. Tom was very good, he stepped up to the challenge.”

Lloyd, 18, got on for the final 20 minutes, playing in the back-row. “I was relying on our team to make sure I could give Zak good minutes and they did that,” Arthur added. “I think the rest of the guys recognise the amount of game time we can give debutants in that position is going to depend on the scoreline and where the game is.

“They did a good job for him and he was good, he came on in the right circumstances. Bringing kids into a team that’s competitive and going well is a lot easier for their development.”