Leeds Rhinos coach 'likes' 1st half performance in St Helens defeat, vows to learn for Challenge Cup tie

It was first blood to Saints, who return to AMT Headingley next Friday in the sixth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup. Leeds led 8-0 in the first half of the Super League clash, but Saints were the stronger team after the break and scored three tries to one. “I thought that was the best game I've seen this year in Super League ,” Smith said. “It was two good teams going at it. I really liked the way we were patient in the first half, flowed, defended really well, played some good footy and had a lot of front-foot opportunities.

“We probably didn't capitalise on it points-wise. Against quality teams sometimes you've got to go the distance to get the points and we just weren't quite able to do that. But I really liked the effort and intent and way we went about things. St Helens are a great team and they showed that in the end.”

It was Rhinos’ second defeat from five Super League games and Smith insisted “We'll learn a lot out of that I think, how we play our footy and how we can improve it. But I'm really happy with the five weeks of effort and intent we’ve so far as we're shaping a new team and a new journey together.”

Of what pleased him the most, Smith said: “The scramble, probably more than anything - the desire to cover for their mate was there well and truly. I liked how we played, particularly in the first half. In the second half there were a few moments when we have back-to-back-to-back clangers or major mistakes we made and that was the difference in the game.”

The Rhinos boss insisted he was “not frustrated ast all by our performance”, adding: “We’ve had some execution errors, but we’ve played hard, played with intent and tried to beat the other team with our footy on both sides of the ball. I am disappinted we didn’t get the result, for the fans and for the players mostly because they’ve put a lot into that. But at the end of the day, the team that was best for longest got the result.”