Leeds Rhinos coach identifies reason for loss at St Helens, reveals 'only thing that matters right now'

The result ended Rhinos’ five-game winning run and was largely self-inflicted, with all the home side’s points coming off Leeds’ errors. Saints went 4-0 ahead through two penalties, both after Leeds had knocked-on playing the ball and a try on the stroke of half-time doubled their advantage.

Rhinos hit back with a touchdown by Riley Lumb soon after the interval, but Saints grabbed their second try at the start of the final quarter and scored again on the last play of the match. Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arthur was brutally honest in his assessment of how the game was lost.

He said: “There were too many things we got wrong and that comes down to one thing, attitude. They out-enthused us and had a better attitude to trying to get the simple things right and build a game. We probably wanted to get a quick win over and done with, I reckon.”

The coach noted: “We trained okay during the week, so sometimes you have those days. Eighty minutes can be a tough lesson for you sometimes. Unfortunately you don’t get that 80 minutes back and you have to live with it. The only thing that matters right now is how we respond to it, because there’s not a lot we can do about it right now.”

Arthur admitted the number of errors made by his side was a shock. “We haven’t seen them [this season] and that’s a reflection of the attitude and where you think you’re at and how cheaply you can get a win,” he said. “We might [have thought] we are going better than we are.

“What I have drilled into the boys is every team is coming after you now. We haven’t had an easy game, everyone has come with their best effort so that is what we have got to get used to. If you want to get to the top, that’s what top teams do. They know they have to roll their sleeves up and come with their best effort and physicality each week, or they’ll get beat.”

Arthur described Rhinos’ first half performance as “probably our worst 40 minutes” and “embarrassing”, but conceded the second half wasn’t much better. He said: “We had 40 more minutes to just chase a performance, not the scoreboard. Unfortunately, we continued to chase the scoreboard. We got ourselves back to 8-4, but it just didn’t feel likely. It felt like they were working harder than us.”

Rhinos remain third in the table and have a huge home game against fourth-placed Leigh Leopards next Friday. Arthur stressed: “We need to move on, the important thing is we get a chance to respond.”

It was Leeds’ second defeat of the season at Saints, following a Betfred Challenge Cup loss in May. Rhinos won the teams’ meeting at Magic Weekend last month and face Saints again at AMT Headingley in three weeks’ time.