How Rhyse Martin kept his cool to land vital kick in Leeds Rhinos' fightback win

Kevin Sinfield was one of the outstanding marksmen in rugby league’s history and set club records which may never be beaten, but Rhinos seem to have found a worthy successor in Rhyse Martin.

Since his move from Canterbury Bulldogs 13 months ago, Martin has landed 54 goals from 65 attempts for Leeds, a strike rate of 83.07 per cent.

The most important of those was a 79th-minute conversion which sent last week’s game against Huddersfield Giants into extra-time. It was a difficult shot, from close to the left-hand touchline, but the way he slid the ball between the posts was Sinfield-esque.

Explaining how he handled such a pressure situation, Martin revealed: “I was a bit more nervous for the one before, because I had missed two in a row.As it turned out, they were costly - if I had got them we wouldn’t have needed golden point.

“When I got to that kick I had Harry [Newman] run up to me and go ‘please, please get it’. I was like, ‘leave me alone - I know what I’ve got to do here’.

“You take it as every other kick, really - all I did was really focus in on my technique and what I do at training.

“In the Michael Jordan documentary on Netflix it says ‘you dont know what your shot’s going to be like until you take it, so I don’t know why you get nervous for it’.

“It’s the same as goal kicking, you don’t know if it’s going to go through or not until you take it, so you just have to do it.”

Every point is likely to be precious tomorrow when Rhinos take on Betfred Super League champions St Helens behind closed doors at Emerald Headingley.

They got out of jail last week, winning 27-26 in extra-time after trailing 26-6, but Martin warned: “We have to improve.

“We tried to push the envelope a little bit too much early on and then we couldn’t get into a groove. We couldn’t stick any sets together and if we do that this weekend it is going to be really costly for us.

“We were really lucky to get away with that win.”

When they did, finally, get their act together Rhinos showed what they are capable of, scoring four tries in the final 12 minutes.

“That shows great signs for this team,” Martin reflected.

“Good teams always find that way to win games when they are not performing that well and that’s a really big positive for us as a team.

“If we start like that against Saints it is going to be tough to get back, but I think it is a bit of a wake up call for us that we are going to have to be better.”

It takes spirit to fight back the way Rhinos did six days ago and that was another plus point, according to Martin.

It was Rhinos’ fifth successive win and he said: “We’ve shown plenty of times this season that we can score points, but last week we tried to score points without going forward.

“Once we started getting some momentum through the middle we were able to put points on. That was us sticking to our game plan and trying to break them down.

“It was the first game back and everyone was a bit unsure how it was going to go and how you were going to feel in the game.

“I think everyone was a bit nervous with their conditioning, how fit you are going to feel.

“Everyone was unsure where we could put our energy in during the game, but I think we found our rhythm towards the back end.”

Saints impressed in a dominant 34-6 victory over Catalans Dragons last Sunday, but Martin believes Rhinos will be better with a game under their belt.

“You can’t replicate anything at training like a game, especially with the contact side of things,” said the Papua New Guinea captain. “At training you get bodies in front, but you don’t really want to be going into full-out contact.

“It will definitely be better for us in the long run, especially going into a tough game.”

Martin felt his own performance reflected the team’s last week.

“I think it took a while to get into the game, but I think that was because of the way we were playing - we just weren’t completing or holding the ball,” he reflected.

“We were pretty much defending, so once we completed a few sets back-to-back it was easier to start to get into the flow.

“I was a bit nervous all week and then it got to game day and I wasn’t sure how it was going to pan out.

“It was a very strange day, but I am glad we got through it."

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Laura Collins