Leeds Rhinos boss makes 'way better team' admission after 38-0 thrashing at Wigan Warriors
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Rhinos conceded seven tries as Wigan emphatically avenged their 30-4 defeat at AMT Headingley last month. The visitors trailed 10-0 after just eight minutes and Arthur made no excuses.
“They dominated us physically right from the start and from one to 17, across the field, they owned their jobs and we didn’t,” he reflected.
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Hide Ad“They started fast and hard and we didn’t handle their physicality. Through the lack of physicality, we never got any field position all night.


“In the first half we never had one set that started down in their half. We got a couple of tackles four and five in their half, but that was about it.
“In the second half we didn’t really improve much, maybe one set started inside their half and we turned it over early in the tackle count. Physically, they were on a different level.”
Rhinos had 20-year-old Alfie Edgell at full-back, for only the second time in Betfred Super League and Riley Lumb, 19, made his third senior appearance, on the left-wing. Of the youngsters, Arthur said: “I thought they were okay, they did a good job.
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“Alfie hasn’t played full-back for four or five months so it was tough for him. I thought they probably kicked us to death a bit so that’s an area we have got to improve.
“We were okay for a period physically in the middle of the first half, but we couldn’t get a penalty or a six-again or another set on the back of the tackles four and five we had down there. We needed to find a way to get another set or another start. Maybe when it was 10-0 if we had bagged a try it might have given us more energy.
“Early in the piece we were kicking from their 30-40 metre line. We didn’t get out of red zone, they were catching the ball on their 30 or 40 and starting sets in good ball and it snowballed from there.”
Rhinos travelled to Wigan on a three-game winning streak and Arthur stressed: “We need to make sure it’s a one-off. It’s not the way we want to finish our season.
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“We need to be way better than that; we have been better than that, but it just shows we have some work to do in pre-season if we want to be physical and match that every week.”
Leeds remain seventh in the table, but could drop to eighth on points difference if Catalans Dragons beat London Broncos by at least 30 points on Saturday. Sixth-placed Leigh Centurions’ 24-0 home loss to Hull KR means Rhinos are a point outside the play-offs with one round remaining.
“That’s great, but I am not really interested in that at the moment,” Arthur said after hearing of Leigh’s defeat. “We have to find a way to get a better performance - that’s the main priority for me moving forward.”
Rhinos close their league campaign at second-placed Hull KR on Friday and the coach warned his players they are in for a tough few days. “We’ve got to stick to what we normally do during the week,” he said.
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Hide Ad“We have to review it, move on from it and find a way with our review and training well. We have still got plenty to play for.
“Results went our way, but regardless, we have got a bit of pride. We have played better than that and we don’t want to finish like that.”
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