Catalans Dragons 26 Leeds Rhinos 14 - Match too far as brave Leeds Rhinos fall to Catalans

Having - unexpectedly - done that, they went into last night’s elimination play-off against Catalans Dragons with higher expectations so falling at the first hurdle was a disappointment.

But the way Rhinos fought back against the odds to make a game of it in the second half - after a traumatic opening 30 minutes - was evidence of how far they have come from some dark days early last summer.

Catalans deserved their win, though the 26-14 scoreline was tough on Leeds.

It was a night when nothing went Rhinos’ way, but they showed real fighting spirit - particularly in the third quarter - and can go into the off-season with heads held high.

Rhinos got caught cold after 90 seconds, were 12-0 behind inside 10 minutes and 18-0 adrift before they got points on the board.

That didn’t really reflect the balance of play, but the ball ran Catalans’ way and they were clinical with the chances they got.

Tries either side of the interval gave Leeds hope, cutting the deficit to 10 points, only for a crucial incident to sum up the night.

Having defended back-to-back sets on their line and forced an error, Leeds countered through Rob Lui, but his pass 20 metres out - aimed at Konrad Hurrell - was intercepted by David Mead to run in Catalans’ fourth try.

Catalans’ size made a difference. Without Tom Holroyd and Adam Cuthbertson because of injury, it wasn’t a big Rhinos team anyway and they lost Ava Seumanufagai and Mikolaj Oledzki to head injuries inside the opening 32 minutes.

Rhinos didn’t have a prop among the substitutes and when they were bringing on James Donaldson, Cameron Smith and Alex Sutcliffe - all second-rowers - Catalans could freshen up their front-row by introducing Sam Moa and Sam Kasiano.

The injuries left Rhinos with only one prop - Matt Prior, who had started at loose-forward - and when Prior, who had a terrific game, was given a rest, Smith, Donaldson and Bodene Thompson had to fill in the middle. All three did a credible job.

Teenager Holroyd has made good progress this year, but - particularly with Cuthbertson having moved on - another specialist front-rower must be high on Rhinos’ off-season wish list.

The head knocks also reduced Leeds to 15 fit players for more than half the game. On top of their recent schedule - and against a side playing only their second game in a month - the way they hung in was impressive.

The opening half an hour was decisive.

A positive first set was followed by a decent kick and chase, but then Sam Tomkins, a clear man of the match, broke into space from acting-half near Catalans’ line and Tom Davies was on his left shoulder to score at the corner.

Rhyse Martin made a terrific break from inside his own half, but the ball was knocked on, Catalans received a penalty in the subsequent set and then, on the last tackle, Sam Tomkins grubbered over the Leeds line and Samisoni Langi dived through to touch down

James Maloney converted both tries from close to the touchline and Leeds were down 12-0 after just nine minutes. Rhinos were almost over when Tom Briscoe made a dash for the corner, he couldn’t quite get there and his offload was intercepted by Mead and it took a fantastic chase back by Martin to prevent him going all the way.

An early kick then gave Davies a chance, but he knocked on over Leeds’ line under pressure from Ash Handley.

On 20 minutes hooker Kruise Leeming almost got over from acting-half, then Prior did off the play-the-ball, but referee Chris Kendall spotted an obstruction, signalled no try and video assistant Robert Hicks agreed.

A try then, or moments later when Handley couldn’t hold on to an attempted interception, would have made it a different game, but Leeds couldn’t quite get on terms once Catalans had gone 18-0 ahead.

They scored their third try, on the half hour, through centre Israel Folau who beat Leeds’ left-side defence to Sam Tomkins’ kick.

Maloney added the extras - off the right touchline this time - but Leeds did give themselves a life line four minutes before the interval when Luke Gale made a break from Liam Sutcliffe’s pass and forward Alex Sutcliffe was in support to score his first try for the club, which Martin converted.

Leeds scored an outstanding try eight minutes after the interval. Lui began the move on the right flank; Hurrell ran across field, slipped, got up again and found Gale.

The scrum half put Prior into a gap and his final pass was finished by centre Liam Sutcliffe, though there was no goal.

Leeds tapped a penalty in front of the post soon afterwards with no reward and when Mead scored - with Maloney adding another outstanding kick - it seemed they might collapse. They stuck at it and Hurrell went in for a try, after Myler, Liam Sutcliffe, Gale and Prior had handled, but Maloney added a penalty with seven minutes left to complete the scoring.

The penalty count was eight-five in Leeds’ favour.

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