'Keep your head up': Leeds Rhinos boss' message to Harry Newman after Challenge Cup defeat by Wigan Warriors

Rhinos let slip a 14-0 first half lead, having overturned a similar scoreline in a Super League win at Wigan eight days earlier when Newman ran in two long-range interception tries.

Wigan scored four tries to two in the Cup sixth round rematch, but missed goal kicks kept Rhinos in it and they could have snatched a dramatic win in the final moments.

Newman - who had scored Leeds’ second touchdown - made a break, with Richie Myler in support, but opted not to pass and was tackled by full-back Bevan French.

That was the crucial moment in the game, but asked what he would say to Newman, Smith said: “Keep your head up.

“Keep moving forward. It is easy to sit in the grandstand and say should’ve, would’ve, could’ve, but it is all happening so fast.

“Bevan French is an expert at interrupting those sort of situations, has been his whole life. It is never down to one play in a game.”

Newman also held on to the ball when he had a chance to pass to Myler in the first half, but beat French’s tackle that time to score Leeds’ second try.

Smith said: “You have got back the instincts of players. The one in the first half turned out well, second half didn’t.

“He made a decision, no one wants to win more than Harry. It never comes down to one play, there were heaps of other plays where we could have done better and maybe we wouldn’t have been in that situation.

“You have got to be willing to put yourself out there and try and win those big games. You have got to go hard at it and you’ve got to suffer the disappointments sometimes.”

Leeds were 14-4 ahead at the interval and Smith insisted: “I don’t think we played poorly in the second half.

“We played against a good team and we had some near misses and they executed a few plays well. There were no set-restarts in the second half, so maybe the game was open enough, or something - I am not quite sure.”

It was the third time in as many seasons Rhinos have fallen at the first hurdle in the Challenge Cup, since winning the trophy at Wembley in 2020, but Smith felt the tie was a good advertisement for the sport in front of a BBC One prime time audience.

“I thought it was a terrific contest,” Smith said. “It was a pretty open game, great conditions for it, both teams attacked it and it could have gone either way and very nearly did.

“It was a good game, as a supporter you can be disappointed with the result, but it was a good game of footy, two good teams competing for the first step of a big prize.

“I am proud of the effort of our players. Wigan executed some plays really nicely and in the end that was the difference.

“At all stages in the game it was a good battle; regardless of the scoreline, there was always two teams going head to head.”