Lessons learned as Leeds Rhinos kids aim to cap 'brilliant' year with Grand Final repeat v Warrington Wolves

Rhinos’ under-18s travel to HJ Stadium tomorrow (Saturday) for the academy showpiece with 10 of their 21-man squad set to back up from an 8-0 win in the reserves final a week earlier. Rhinos scored more and conceded fewer points in the academy regular season, but Warrington topped the table with a 100 per cent record from their 12 games thanks to a narrow victory over Leeds two months ago.

“They are the only team to beat us at under-18s this year,” Rhinos academy coach Chev Walker said of Wolves, whose squad includes five players from their reserves Grand Final side. “They beat us 19-18; we scored four tries and they scored three, but we missed our conversions and were unfortunate to have a couple disallowed. It is going to be a tough, hard battle. They were the first team to score first against us all year, but we have learned a few bits from that game and about ourselves since then.

“We are going there confident and we know what we need to do to be able to perform. They are obviously on their own patch and we need to be really disciplined in what we are trying to achieve.”

Last week’s tense win, courtesy of a try by George Brown and two penalty goals from Jack Smith, will stand Leeds in good stead, Walker reckons. He added: “They have been brilliant, I think they are really maturing and starting to get a feel of what it takes to be a Rhinos player properly.

“It is a little bit more than talent, it is temperament and mentality. We have been trying to get that message to them all year. We’ve not had the games to be able to build on it, but we’ve had a couple of tight ones in the reserves and in the academy at the back end of the year when the lads have had to put into practice the things we’ve been speaking about. It is all good experience for them and I thought they handled the occasion and weather last week really well and that was the difference in the end.”

Of Rhinos’ squad for tomorrow, George Brown, Harry Smith, Presley Cassell, Joe Butterfield, Elliott Fox, Jacob Hardy, Dacx Jones-Buchanan, Zak Lloyd, Harley Thomas and Noah Whittingham all played last week. Prop Daniel Stelfox misses out after being injured during the semi-final win against St Helens a fortnight ago.

Lore Jones-Buchanan and Alex Cowley are set to make their final appearance for Leeds. Walker will hand over academy coaching duty to his assistant Simon Brown after the Grand Final but remains in charge of the reserves.

Warrington Wolves academy: from Bishop, Coop, Cooper, Fallon, Hackney, Haddrell, Holdsworth, Irwin, Livesey, Lund, Marshall, Morgan, Mulqueeney, Poles, Ramsden, Regan, Rhodes, Stanton, Walker, Webster, Westwood.

Leeds Rhinos academy: from O Brown, G Brown, Butterfield, Butterworth, Cassell, Cowley, Fox, Hardy, Hutchinson, D Jones-Buchanan, L Jones-Buchanan, Lloyd, Millington, Qareqare, Richardson, H Smith, Stead, Thomas, Tinkler, White, Whittingham.

Referee: Carl Hughes (Mid-Yorkshire). Kick-off: Saturday, 1pm at HJ Stadium.