'Tough lessons' warning for Leeds Rhinos after Wigan Warriors end Challenge Cup dream
Disappointed boss Lois Forsell admitted Leeds Rhinos have “some tough lessons to learn” after Wigan Warriors ended their Wembley hopes.
Rhinos were thumped 44-14 in today’s Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup semi-final at York Community Stadium. Leeds conceded nine tries and were 38-0 behind before opening their account.
Though they scored three of the final four touchdowns to salvage some pride, Forsell admitted it was a painful experience. “I think it was a really disappointing first half from us, first and foremost,” she said in her post-match press conference.
“We gave ourselves far too much to do. You can’t turn up to a semi-final and defend the way we did early doors. The points scored against us were really, really disappointing. We have some tough lessons to learn around where we turn the ball over and how we control a game.
“The points they scored came off the back of an error or a penalty - we have to find a way to start faster and smarter. The girls did turn up in the second half and we did some things a lot better, but we still weren’t consistent enough.”
For Forsell, the final quarter - when they scored three tries - made the rest of the game “even more frustrating”. She said: “We know that’s what we’ve got in our locker, so to just give away that first half was frustrating.
“It is a lesson, but you can’t learn lessons in big games like that. It is tough because it’s early in the season and we have got a young squad and one that is much different this year. Some girls were playing in their first big game so it is a lesson learned and we will get better for it, but obviously we are playing for this year and we’ve got a lot to fix up.
“There is a lot of potential; look at the points scored, if we do that in the first half it is a totally different game. What we have got to learn is how you start a game off is a big indicator of where you’ll be able to get to.”
Rhinos have several new injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s Super League opener away to last year’s league leaders and Challenge Cup winners St Helens. Bella Sykes and Izzy Northrop both went off for head injury assessments and Ruby Walker and Connie Boyd suffered ankle injuries.