Boss Brad Arthur reveals bad habit Leeds Rhinos must break to earn Challenge Cup win at St Helens

Rhinos face St Helens at TW Stadium tomorrow (Friday) in the fourth round of the Betfred Challenge Cup. With only three rounds left before the final, Arthur reckons reaching Wembley is an “achievable” goal, but insists his side will only get there if they stop “beating ourselves”.

Leeds have lost 17 of their last 18 meetings with Saints and are on the back of a frustrating 11-0 loss at Catalans Dragons five days ago. Though Arthur is happy with the way his team are defending, he says the result in France showed they need to be more patient and composed.

“Sometimes I think we try too hard to turn the scoreboard over and we come up with some plays that aren’t the right plays at the right time,” the Leeds boss acknowledged. “I think we’ve played our best football when we’re prepared to go set for set and be patient and wait for the scoreboard to look after itself.

“We’ve looked a bit too frantic at times or like we’re not on the same page. Guys are trying to come up with a play themselves or we are trying to put a big play on instead of just working to what we’ve practised during the week, sticking at it and trusting that will be good enough to get us the result.

“Sometimes it won’t be and you get beaten by a better team, but we have a habit at times of beating ourselves and I feel like that’s what we did last week. I’m not taking credit away from the opposition because they defended really well and frustrated us, but we added to the frustration.”

The return of veteran winger Ryan Hall - who won the Cup with Leeds in 2014 and 2015 and was a finalist two years ago for Hull KR - will help steady the ship, Arthur believes. Hall missed the Catalans game because of a rib injury and the coach said: “There’s not many better in the game at bringing the ball out of backfield and his calmness and composure helps our squad.

“That’s still an area we struggle with at times, we get a bit frantic or impatient and we’re not prepared to build games. The effort and want and desire is always there, which is great, but sometimes we try to chase the scoreboard and the harder we try to score, the clunkier we look.”

Tomorrow’s tie is Arthur’s Cup debut and he admitted it is more than just another match. Rhinos are outsiders with the bookies to win the competition, but he vowed: “I am excited about it and looking forward to it. It is an opportunity to try to get to Wembley, that’s the goal. I don’t say this lightly, but there’s not many competitions where you’ve only got to win four games to get there. It is very achievable for every team in the competition and you’ve got to be at your best for four games.

“It’s not like you’re having to be at your best for 27 weeks. That’s what we are focussing on, it is a different competition for us and something we are excited about. I can see how important it is with the air of excitement around the guys and the whole competition.

“We’ve tried to put a big importance on it from a club perspective. We’ve tried to treat it a little bit differently, because it is a short-form competition. We’ve done things a little bit differently to make it feel like it’s not just the normal grind of week-to-week footy. We’ve tried to make it exciting around what’s available, which is an opportunity to play at Wembley after four games.”

Saints, who ended Rhinos’ Cup hopes last year and in 2021, also lost last week, 20-10 at home by Hull KR, but Arthur knows the size of the task facing his squad. “They are a tough team, pretty resilient and a team that hangs in there and fights hard for the full-80,” he noted of Paul Wellens’ team,

“That’s what we are expecting and preparing ourselves for. They have got a strong forward pack who pave the way for an exciting spine. I think they are a threat right across the field so effort is going to be important for us around our work rate in defence and working hard for each other, then we are going to have to show a fair level of composure with the ball.”