Leeds Rhinos; Fan power played a key role in Catalans victory says Richie Myler

Rhinos were a man down for the first 10 minutes of the second period after Konrad Hurrell was sin-binned on the stroke of half-time.

He had been back on the field just seconds when Brad Singleton was sent-off for a high tackle on Sam Kasiano.

With Leeds hanging on to an eight-point lead, Catalans were suddenly favourites to grab a precious win which would have strengthened their hold on fifth place in Betfred Super League and kept Rhinos firmly in the relegation dogfight.

As Singleton trudged off, Myler turned to the South Stand and gestured for them to lift the volume – and the crowd responded. In turn, Rhinos raised their game to run in five tries and 32 unanswered points during the final 28 minutes.

“I thought the crowd was tremendous for the whole game,” said Myler who crossed twice in Rhinos’ second half onslaught.

“The reception we got when we came out made the hairs stick up on the back of your neck and I thought the fans were great.

“That moment when we lost Singo, I just thought we needed a gee-up from the crowd and I thought once I asked for it they responded.

“That was a massive thing.

“They deserved a performance and I thought we delivered on a lot of things.

“We worked hard for one another, but we were smart at crucial points and I thought that showed in the result.”

Though they had a shaky 20 minutes after taking an early 16-0 lead, it was another positive performance from Rhinos building on the previous week’s 44-0 win at Huddersfield Giants.

All four recent signings have made an impact and Myler added: “I think, apart from the Hull KR blip, we have been going quite well for a while.

“We have got a lot better balance within our group.

“The new additions have really sparked us up and fitted in well. I think they help the dynamic. Lunty [Shaun Lunt] and Brad Dwyer were outstanding.

“They worked in unison and give a good balance to each other and I thought Rob [Lui] had some brilliant touches.

“That’s what we’ve lacked a bit in certain areas, at certain crucial moments, but I think one to 17 worked hard for each other.

“Hard work solves a lot of problems and a lot of hard work gets you a long way.

“We had to dig deep because we were down to 12 men and I thought we did that.”

Myler has played alongside a number of makeshift stand-offs since joining Rhinos ahead of the 2018 season, but Lui is a specialist in the role and is bringing the best out of his half-back partner.

“He is a very experienced player,” Myler said.

“Nothing against the players we had before, they added really well to us, but we weren’t gelling well as a team across the board.

“That made it hard for them, but at the minute I think we’ve got a good balance between the whole group and that’s paying off.

“It certainly helps my game by having a player next to me that can control a fair bit and has a steadiness and a calmness about him.

“I am enjoying playing at the minute and I think that’s showing in my performance.”

Leeds are now four points clear of bottom club London Broncos, but Myler reckons there is still plenty of work to be done.

“It’s still all up in the air,” he insisted. “But we are in a good position.

“We are playing better as a team which breeds confidence. You can see we are working hard for one another and we are getting results, but there’s five teams at the bottom who are close together and we are not getting carried away.”