Kevin Sinfield angered by Leeds Rhinos' horror show at Salford Red Devils

Ash Handley and Brad Singleton after the defeat to Salford

Sinfield admitted Rhinos were totally outplayed by their second-bottom opponents who had prop Lee Mossop sent-off midway through the first half.

The director of rugby had been encouraged by Rhinos’ previous two performances and he said: “I think we’ve made some strides, but clearly not enough. It was a big setback, there’s a lot for us to fix up and we will do.”

Sinfield conceded: “It was never going to be easy, this one. I thought we did some good stuff last week, but clearly not good enough tonight.

“We were clearly outplayed by 12 men, I thought Jackson Hastings had a great first 20 minutes, he won the game for Salford.

“On the back of that Robert Lui kicked the ball out, slowed the game down and managed the game and unfortunately we’re not capable of dealing with that at the moment.

“We can throw our teddies out of the pram or we can try so something about it, which is what we’ll do.”

Forwards Carl Ablett (ankle) and Mitch Garbutt (knee) both picked up injuries and are in doubt for the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-final against Warrington Wolves in eight days’ time and Rhinos were without Richie Myler (ankle).

Admitting the job he is facing is tougher than he expected, Sinfield added: “For us to dish that up, it hurts all of us. I am disappointed, but I still think we are capable of doing the job.”