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Leeds Rhinos at full strength for derby
Champions Leeds Rhinos will be at full-strength for tomorrow night's engage Super League derby at home to Castleford Tigers.
Coach Brian McClennan is in the enviable position of being able to call on all of his top guns for the match, after recalling England skipper Jamie Peacock and New Zealand international Brent Webb to his 19-man squad.
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Prop Peacock missed last week's 34-6 victory over Crusaders RL after being given an extra week off to recover from his Gillette Four Nations exertions last autumn, while full-back Webb has recovered from an unspecified injury which forced him to miss the trip to North Wales.
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And McClennan is expecting a more cohesive performance from his side when they play their first home game of 2010 at Headingley Carnegie tomorrow night.
He said: "It was good to get the two points to bring away and we also won with a good points differential, which is another positive starting point for us too.
"The game has given us something to look at and improve on. We have done a lot of preparatory work in training this week on the back of what we have seen.
"Against Crusaders we went through periods of building up pressure, but we also coughed up ball early in our sets too. In the second half we did things better and completed more of our sets and it paid off in the end for us.
"The goal for tomorrow is to be more consistent and try and keep a similar momentum going throughout the game, rather than in spells, and that way we can play a lot better."
The last time the two sides met at Headingley back in August, the Rhinos inflicted one of the heaviest ever defeats on their arch-rivals with a 76-12 mauling.
But that had followed a last-gasp 24-22 win at the Jungle in May, when skipper Kevin Sinfield kicked a penalty in the final seconds to break Tigers' hearts.
And McClennan knows that whenever Leeds take on Cas nothing can be taken for granted, with both sets of fans expecting their teams to give their all.
"We know we have always got to be on our guard when we play Cas. They are a club that has done extremely well and made great progress over the past couple of years.
"They have come from the national leagues, to finishing bottom and then qualifying for the play-offs in little over two years and that makes them a formidable opponent for us.
"We have to be in a position where we concentrate on our team, but with the likes of Ryan McGoldrick, Rangi Chase and Michael Shenton in their side, we know they are going to be a good attacking force and it will be challenging playing them."
Leeds' much-coveted winger Ryan Hall signed a new four-year deal with the Rhinos earlier this week and McClennan says the new deal is a tribute to the hard work the England international has put into his game over the past few years.
"It is really good for the club that Ryan is staying, he has come through our system to secure a place in the first team and then gone on to play for England.
"He has shown a lot of commitment to the Rhinos to what we are doing here at the club, so it works both ways in terms of the contract.
"It is another thing that augurs well for the future potential of our team, but it is fulfilling that potential which is the challenge for any sports team."
Leeds Rhinos (v Castleford Tigers): Webb, Watkins, Donald, Senior, Delaney, Ablett, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Bailey, Peacock, Buderus, Diskin, Leuluai, Burgess, Eastwood, Jones-Buchanan, Lauiititi, Sinfield.
Referee: Ian Smith (Oldham).
Kick-off: 8pm.
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
