Leeds Rhinos coach makes 'not good enough' admission after Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens

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Gutted coach Lois Forsell admitted her side “weren’t good enough on the day” after Leeds Rhinos were beaten 22-0 by St Helens at Wembley this afternoon.

Rhinos failed to rise to the big occasion and suffered their second defeat of the season, two weeks after losing 12-6 at Saints in Betfred Women’s Super League. “It’s tough,” Forsell said of the Women’s Challenge Cup final defeat.

“Obviously you turn up at Wembley to win, but we weren’t good enough on the day. Saints were the better team, so full congratulations to them, but we weren’t smart enough - again - in key areas. We didn't take our opportunities and on the back of that, some errors and some effort areas made the game run away from us.”

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Rhinos’ Liv Whitehead thought she had scored in the opening quarter, but the touchdown was ruled out and Saints went ahead soon afterwards. Forsell admitted missed opportunities early in the game proved crucial.

Leeds Rhinos' Keara Bennett is consoled after the Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.Leeds Rhinos' Keara Bennett is consoled after the Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.
Leeds Rhinos' Keara Bennett is consoled after the Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

She said: “You get points on the board early doors against that Saints team and they probably become a bit more nervous. They did the opposite and it had the opposite effect on us.

“There were quite a few individual errors. We didn’t quite do what we’ve put into practice at training so it is frustrating and disappointing. I just don't think that was a true account of ourselves.

“That's how we turned up and performed, but knowing the potential and the players we've got, we've got more in us than that. We just didn't turn up as a collective and weren’t good enough.”

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Leeds Rhinos suffer Challenge Cup final agony as St Helens prove too good at Wem...
Leeds Rhinos' Izzy Northrop and Caitlin Beevers after the loss to St Helens at Wembley. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.Leeds Rhinos' Izzy Northrop and Caitlin Beevers after the loss to St Helens at Wembley. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.
Leeds Rhinos' Izzy Northrop and Caitlin Beevers after the loss to St Helens at Wembley. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

It was Rhinos’ third successive Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens and their second at Wembley, but Forsell didn’t feel her side were beaten by the occasion. She said: “The Challenge Cup final is a big occasion.

“It has been a big week and quite an emotional one. There has been a lot of different influences on the week, but it was more about the opportunities early doors and sticking to the processes.”

There was a period of silence before the game and applause in the seventh minute in memory of club legend Rob Burrow following his death last Sunday. Asked if the emotion of the week took its toll, Forsell stressed: “We can't blame it on that because we just weren't good enough to win on the day.

“It has been quite an emotional week and quite a full-on week so potentially it could have done, but I don't think that's something that you can use as a performance indicator.

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Leeds Rhinos' Bella Sykes is tackled by Jodie Cunningham during the Women's Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.Leeds Rhinos' Bella Sykes is tackled by Jodie Cunningham during the Women's Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.
Leeds Rhinos' Bella Sykes is tackled by Jodie Cunningham during the Women's Challenge Cup final loss to St Helens. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

“I think there was still more than enough there to get the job done so I wouldn't put it down to that; I just think there are more rugby smarts we need to be better at.”

Rhinos reached the Super League Grand Final last year after their Wembley defeat, beating Saints in the play-offs. Forsell insisted: “There’s still Super League and the Nines finals are coming up as well so there’s a lot of other opportunities.

“We have just got to make sure we reset, fix it up and go on and make it a better year. We know how disappointed we are today, we have got to make sure we react on that and we are

better over the next couple of months.”

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