Harry Newman's return fuels Leeds Rhinos rise, but beware of Castleford Tigers: YEP Jury have their say

Newman’s try-scoring return was a highlight, but the panel were also impressed with David Fusitu’a, Nene Macdonald and Sam Lisone in Rhinos’ 26-0 win over Wakefield Trinity.

Looking ahead to Thursday, they will travel to the Jungle in confident mood, but expect wounded Castleford Tigers to raise their game against the old enemy.

IAIN SHARP

In conditions that had fans wondering if this was summer rugby after all, Leeds successfully

dispatched Wakefield at Headingley last Friday night.

Trinity were putting together a late attempt to become the UK’s entry at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest, due to their propensity to get ‘nul points’ on a regular basis, as they clocked up a third straight week without troubling the scorers. It perhaps demonstrates the skills of the much-maligned Willie Poching and the coaching job he did holding Wakefield together last season.

Meanwhile things seem to be coming together in the Leeds camp. The returning James Bentley and Sam Lisone’s steam-rollering ball carries were worth the admission money alone, whilst everyone held their collective breath for Harry Newman’s twinkle-toed half-hour cameo in the second-half, hoping he’d stay injury free and his try showed what England missed at the World Cup last autumn.

As the fallout from the St Helens game continues, fans may have missed an important NASA press release from late last week. They announced that the water bottle hoofed by Konrad Hurrell had successfully achieved stable low Earth orbit last Tuesday.

Good luck to the faithful trying to reach rail strike-ravaged Castleford on Thursday night.

DAVID MUHL

That wasn’t a game that will go down in the memory - 0-0 at half time was a flattering scoreline.

We needed a game with some spark and life to warm us up on a very cold night at headquarters and got a first-half that was a good cure for insomnia.

Conditions obviously didn’t help; Ryan Golding and his ground staff had done an excellent job to get the pitch in as good a condition as it was, but from all accounts it was still a greasy surface.

The crowd of 11,700 must have brought a warm feeling to Mr Hetherington. There were some brighter signs in the second-half; Aidan Sezer followed up his good showing last week with another good performance and his partnership with Blake Austin is starting to show promise.

Although David Fusitu’a got the official man of the match, understandable for his two well-taken tries, my vote would have gone to Jarrod O’Connor whose work rate in the middle was immense. Mention must also go to Nene Macdonald who took his try well and has genuine pace. Rhyse Martin must be one of the most underrated overseas signings we’ve ever made, not just for his kicking but his defence, vision, versatility and consistency, playing just as well at centre and second-row.

It was good to see Harry Newman back. He made an immense start with a hard-hitting tackle and a well-taken try within minutes of returning to action.

These are games that in the past we may have lost, but Rohan Smith seems to have instilled some belief in the team.

Looking forward to Thursday, trips to Wheldon Road, which it will always be to me (not the Jungle), are always tricky and Cas will be hurting after losing their coach and being at the end of some disappointing results.

BECKY OXLEY

The groundsmen did well to get last Friday’s game on with the amount of snow we had in Leeds.

Unfortunately I had to miss this game due to being a wheelchair user and the paths still being impassable. I had to make do with second- and third-best - radio and Twitter.

The first-half finished with no score, but it certainly sounded like there were plenty of chances that both sides bombed.

The second-half was far better going for the Rhinos. The ball was thrown around and was like gold sticking to every player, with some great long distance runs and carries. Defensively we were solid and it’s great to have players back in Harry Newman and James Bentley.

The team is warming up and playing some great rugby and I’m looking forward to another local derby at Weldon Road against the Tigers. Can we make it three wins on the bounce and move further up the table? The team is starting to gel and we look strong and are playing some fantastic rugby. Rohan Smith is working his magic and is wearing his magic hat.

TOM GOLDSWORTHY

Leeds Rhinos’ victory over Wakefield on Friday night was very much a step in the right direction.

Maybe the cold weather had a part to play, but that first-half might have been one of the dullest halves of rugby league I’ve watched. Losing Ash Handley during it was a major blow and hopefully he’ll be out for weeks rather than months.

The second-half was much more impressive from Leeds. The spine of the team is really starting to gel with Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin starting to live up to the hype that came when they signed for Leeds.

Another player who made a difference was David Fusitu’a. Injuries have meant his time at Leeds hasn’t been what we imagined, but after a solid run of games in the side he’s starting to show his worth, with 145 metres made and two well-taken tries.

Another positive coming from the victory over Wakefield is the return of James Bentley and Harry Newman.

Leeds play better with these two quality players in the side and I believe keeping them both fit is vital if we are to have a successful season.

Looking forward to Castleford this week, we have to keep this intensity up. The Tigers have been woeful in their first four games and it seems there is unrest at the club.

Whilst they are always more fired up for a home fixture against Leeds, it would be disappointing if we didn’t make it three wins in a row.

SAM BROCKSOM

On one of the coldest nights of rugby I have ever attended, Harry Newman’s return made the

borderline frostbite worthwhile.

It was an amazing moment to see Harry back on the field, and for him to score with his first touch of the ball was great to see.

David Fusitu’a had his best game in a Rhinos shirt, hopefully that gives him some confidence going forward. Both Nene MacDonald and James McDonnell have proved why they were signed with the pair impressing yet again.

It was great to see, even at 26-0 up, that we kept defending for our lives to keep them to nil. With around five minutes left, Jorge Taufua was close to going over but four or five defenders teamed up to see him into touch.

Looking ahead to Castleford, to say they are struggling is an understatement. But we cannot take them for granted. The likes of Jack Broadbent and Muizz Mustapha will have a point to prove against us, and on their day Gareth Widdop and Jacob Miller can cause a lot of trouble.

JOSH JACKSON

It was one of the coldest rugby league games I can remember last Friday night and the Rhinos’ first-half performance definitely won’t have warmed anybody up.

It was a really frustrating first-half with nothing clicking. We were strong in defence, but couldn’t put anything together going forward.

We seemed to step it up a gear in the second-half, moving the ball a lot quicker which got us on the front foot and eventually opened the scoring.

With Wakefield not really causing us a real problem it always felt a matter of time before we got the game won.

There was an immediate impact from Harry Newman with impressive kick chase pressure followed up by a try not long after.

We had some impressive displays from Nene Macdonald and David Fusitu’a down our left edge and a solid short stint from Sam Lisone.

On to Thursday away at Castleford, despite their horrendous start to 2023 we know that they will raise their game against us and we need to be ready and continue pushing after back to back wins.