Leeds Rhinos coach admits 'don't know what more I can do' after skipper sent-off in loss v Hull KR

A thrilling encounter was overshadowed by a sending off for each team in the final quarter, plus an early yellow card to Leeds. Rhinos led 14-6 with just 15 minutes left, but table-topping Hull KR scored three late tries to snatch it - two of them immediately after captain Ash Handley was dismissed for “direct contact” with a shoulder to the head of Robins full-back Arthur Mourgue.

Mourgue was also the Hull KR player involved when Leeds scrum-half Jack Sinfield was sin-binned for a high hit with his shoulder in the first half. Mourgue played on both times. The Robins’ Sauaso Sue was sent-off for a similar tackle on Leeds’ Sam Lisone - who went off for a head injury assessment, but returned later on - at the start of the final quarter.

Leeds have now had four sin-binnings and a sending-off in their last four games, all for contact with a shoulder to an opponent’s head. ​Arthur was unwilling to criticise referee Chris Kendall, but felt both red cards in Friday’s match were harsh.

He said: “I think both ou​rs and their red cards could've possibly been yellow cards - I don’t know. What I do know is, every c​lub ​is working hard to make sure players ​are not hitting blokes in the head. We have done so much work on our target area​, I don't know what more I can do as a coach.​ Unfortunat​e​ly, it’s determining games, changing outcomes and changing the context of games. It probably made it a bit exciting for everyone, but it would've been nice to have 13 on 13 for the whole 80 minutes. It’s just the way it is.”

Arthur said the centre was “devastated” after the game and added: “It was a big moment, but there was nothing deliberate from any of the guys, our team or their team. When you are making contact with the head, some of it is hard to avoid.”

To add to Rhinos’ woes, they lost winger Ryan Hall to an ankle injury after just 10 minutes and the veteran could be facing a long layoff. “I don't think he’s great​,” Arthur said. “He will have to have scans.

“That was ​pretty disruptive, but Harry ​Newman went to the wing and did a great job and you can see the value in Kallum ​Watkins already, because he was unreal in the centres. It would have been nice to keep Hally out there, but that wasn’t an excuse or the reason why.”

Hall was hurt in the build up to Rovers’ first try, which came when Leeds had 11 men with Sinfield in the sin-bin and Jake Connor having been shown a green card after needing treatment to a dislocated finger. Reflecting on the game itself, Arthur was ​”extremely proud of the performance and effort”, but admitted Rhinos need to learn how to win close matches.

He said: “We showed a fair bit of resilience, a few things went against us, especially early - losing a player and the green card, so we were down to 11 players when they scored.

“I thought we fought back really well and got ourselves into a good, strong position. I think fundamentally the team knows how we want to play and are putting ourselves into positions where we can win every game. Now we’ve got to learn how to close the game out and how we win it with 15 minutes to go.

“It happened a few weeks ago at Warrington, the same thing. We are just not quite at that level yet. That’s my job, now we are putting ourselves in a position to win, teaching them how we win that.”

Arthur felt his team tried to “protect the lead” at 14-6. He said: “What got us into that position, we need to keep doing. We can take plenty out of it, but getting close isn’t good enough. It was the same against Warrington a few weeks ago. That’s two games we should have won, but we've got to learn from it."

He added: “We can take plenty out of it, but also getting close isn’t good enough. We will have to learn from it, but the good thing is I like their attitude towards wanting to get better. There were some big moments we got wrong at the back end of the game, but that’s not individuals, it’s the whole team.”