Leeds Rhinos coach latest: Will Jamie Jones-Buchanan be in charge for Friday's clash with Toulouse Olympique?

Rhinos are expected to announce a new permanent coach this week and the new man could be in place for the relegation four-pointer against Toulouse in three days’ time.

Leeds have not won any of their four games with Jones-Buchanan as boss, but a draw against Huddersfield Giants last Thursday was followed by a battling performance in a 16-14 defeat by Castleford Tigers at the Jungle on Monday, when 17 year olds Max Simpson and Jack Sinfield made their debut.

Asked if he expects to be coach on Friday, Jones-Buchanan said: “Reading between the line, no.”

He revealed: “Gary [Hetherington, Rhinos’ chief executive] is meeting me [today] and I’ll have a chat with him and see what that looks like.

“But until then, I’ll go and review the game and plan as if I’ve got a game to prepare for on Friday, then as and when somebody else comes in, I’ll do my best to support them.”

The interim-boss felt yesterday’s battling effort proved “there is a seedbed of a foundation” being put in place.

Though “hurting” after another loss, he said: “There’s a lot of young blokes doing it really tough, who played exceptionally well - people like Morgan Gannon, Jarriod O’Connor, young Jack Sinfield and Max Simpson.

“They stood up to be counted for long periods.

“They are really young, inexperienced players and I get my joy now from what that might look like in six, 12 or 18 months’ time, when those boys have got a few more miles on the clock.

“From where it was a month ago, the boys have come really together.

“It is difficult for me to evidence this, but if you ask the players and the staff how they are feeling right now, it is a million miles away from where they were four or five weeks ago.

“There’s some world-class players who have got to come back into the squad who will add to that and change things overnight.

“I am sure at the back end of the season, when we look back at this, we will roll our eyes a bit and understand we should have got off to a better start and had a better foundation, but it is positive.”

Jones-Buchanan felt half-back Sinfield - son of club legend Kevin Sinfield - and centre Simpson, Jones-Buchanan were “outstanding”.

He said: “You are genuinely concerned about the young blokes because, while they have got it between the ears and under the left pec’, you worry physically.

“They’re certainly not the type of players you’d ask to do a job every week, but for 80 minutes there I thought they were brilliant and tipped everything in.

“That’s what it’s all about, that honesty, desire and commitment - that’s what we want from our players.

“They are the players who should get picked every week, the ones that care.

“They aren’t going to be at their best for a couple of years, but it’s good to have them around and show some of the others what it‘s all about.”

The last eight of Tigers’ points came when Leeds were down to 12 men with James Bentley in the sin-bin.

“He’s apologising to the players, but it’s not good enough,” the coach said of the second-rower.

“He is an enigma, he is one of the best players in terms of fight and doggedness that we sometimes miss, but it’s a very fine line and when it tips over, it’s disastrous, it has hurt us too many times.

“These are the things we’ve got to change.”

While Jones-Buchanan felt the pass for Liam Watts’ try, which effectively won the game for Tigers, was “a mile forward” he stressed: “We don’t worry about things we can’t control, we’ve just got to be better, we’ve got to have more attack and more punch in our offensive game, but defensively we are moving forward.”