Fit-again Leeds Rhinos prop Ava Seumanufagai relishing Huddersfield Giants challenge

AFTER SUFFERING on the sidelines through Leeds Rhinos’ season-opener, Ava Seumanufagai hopes to be back in the thick of the action away to Huddersfield Giants on Sunday.
Ava Seumanufagai.Ava Seumanufagai.
Ava Seumanufagai.

Seumanufagai’s influence in the middle of the field was badly missed last weekend when Rhinos’ competitive year began with a 30-4 drubbing by Hull.

The 28-year-old had an impressive first campaign with Leeds, after making his debut in May, 2019, but sustained a knee injury during their final warm-up game at Wigan Warriors and was not risked.

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He admitted: “It was disappointing how the [last Sunday’s] game went.

Huddersfield Giants' James Gavet.Huddersfield Giants' James Gavet.
Huddersfield Giants' James Gavet.

“It was hard to watch from the sidelines, but I will be good to go for this week.”

The former Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks man suffered medial collateral ligament (MCL) damage against Wigan.

“It’s just on the inside of the knee, grade two,” he said.

“It didn’t pull up very well after I did a bit of contact so they gave me one more week to get right.”

Ava Seumanufagai.Ava Seumanufagai.
Ava Seumanufagai.
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Rhinos will be looking for a huge improvement in three days’ time against a Giants side on a high following their eye-catching 32-12 round one win at Catalans Dragons.

“I guess the only good thing is it is a long season,” Seumanufagai said of Leeds’ opening-game reverse.

“We’ve done a lot of review and we’ve got a lot to work on.”

Of what went wrong, he reflected: “I thought the boys came out firing.

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“We’ve done some video and it was just communication and a lot of things around the ruck where we need to be better.

“It is still really early days and we haven’t trained like that or played like that in the trials so it was uncharacteristic of us and we’ve got some work to do this week.”

Seumanufagai’s return will strengthen Rhinos’ pack.

“I am looking forward to it,” he added. “I am really excited to play.”

But the New Zealand-born front-rower insisted Rhinos’ forwards weren’t to blame for the loss against Hull.

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“I don’t think it was so much to do with the pack, it was around the ruck and completing sets,” he reflected.

“I don’t want to take away from Hull either, they were a very good team.”

Rhinos beat Giants twice last year and finished two places above them in the table, but Sunday’s hosts look a different side following the arrival of half-back Aidan Sezar from NRL Grand Finalists Canberra Raiders.

“I know some of their players from playing in Australia,” Seumanufagai said.

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“It will be a good challenge for us. They have signed James Gavet, we played together for a couple of years and it’ll be good to go up against him.

“I’ve played against Aidan Sezar for most of my career. He is a great signing, he has always been a class player.

“I’ve played against Suaia Matagi and Kenny Edwards too so it will be good to see them and to see how I go against them.”