Leeds Rhinos coach 'super proud' of players, upset with decisions in Magic Weekend loss to Warrington Wolves

Rhinos suffered a 24-6 defeat in the final game of Magic Weekend day one at Elland Road and Arthur didn’t hide the fact he felt his side were on the wrong side of some pivotal decisions by referee Chris Kendall. The loss came seven days after a 30-4 victory over the reigning Betfred Super League champions. Rhinos trailed 8-0 at half-time, but conceded two tries during a spell in the second half when David Fusitu’a was in the sin-bin.

He was controversially yellow carded for a professional foul, moments after two incidents which went against Leeds at the other end of the field. Rhinos felt they should have got the ball from a Warrington knock-on, but that wasn’t given and then Rhyse Martin was penalised for what appeared to be a one-on-one ball steal.

Arthur’s side were reduced to 12 men again when Sam Lisone was yellow carded along with Warrington’s Rodrick Tai, but speaking in his post-match press conference, the coach insisted he was “super proud” of his players. “They were courageous, tough; on the back of last week, I reckon we played better this week - better effort and better physicality,” he said.

“That was always going to be the challenge for us, just a few things didn’t go our way. There were some big moments in the game that went against us. I thought in the first half we looked the better team, but that try before half-time hurt us a bit.

“I was extremely happy with the effort and physicality and the line speed was excellent. We just got a couple of detail things wrong when we got tired, or lacked a bit of concentration, but that’s going to take a bit of time. We’ve just got to keep persisting with it.”

The first yellow card came after Kendall asked his video assistant Tom Grant to check for a potential penalty try. The referee’s initial call of ‘no try’ stood, but Fusitu’a was ordered off and Warrington scored moments later. Of the sin-binnings, Arthur added: “I don’t know what they were for, especially the one on Fus.

“I feel like we kicked down, I am sure there was a knock-on and three tackles later we got penalised for a strip, which was a one-on-one strip. That’s twice we should have had the ball attacking their line. I thought we were getting a bit of momentum, then we go down the other end of the field and get a sin-bin, then [conceded] two tries.”

There were several skirmishes in the second half and Arthur felt both teams got frustrated. He claimed: “I think the control of the game was lost at stages.”

Rhinos remain four points outside the play-offs, but Arthur stressed: “We’ve got to keep coming with that attitude and mentality. I’m sure we’ve lost no fans tonight. The result wasn’t there and we’re not blaming anyone else, there’s some things we’ve got to tidy up, but if we keep coming with that approach we will put ourselves in the frame to win more games than we lose. They are a good team, we threw everything at them, but they showed good composure and nailed two tries when we had 12 men which was costly.”

Winger Ash Handley played the full game for Rhinos, despite a hand injury which requires an operation. He could undergo surgery in the coming week and Arthur said: “He’s tough.

“There’s a footy team there, there’s players there who care about the club and each other. Ash is doing everything he can to try and prolong having the operation to see if he can get out there and help us while there’s still half a chance [of reaching the play-offs].

“If we come like that all the time, tidy up a bit of footy here and there and we get some favourable calls, we’ll be okay. I am disappointed for the players, they didn’t deserve that. You look at the scoreline and probably think we weren’t in the contest. We were right in the contest and showed we can hold our gloves up against the best teams in the comp.”