Leeds Rhinos' Derrell Olpherts talks Jungle return, Castleford Tigers danger and desperation to keep winning

Olpherts joined Rhinos from Castleford in pre-season and it will be his first playing return to the Jungle, his home base for a three-year spell when he scored an impressive 36 tries in 65 appearanceS.

It will also be his 100th Betfred Super League appearance, after 35 with Salford Red Devils, 60 for Castleford and four as a Rhinos player.

“I have some good memories,” Olpherts said of his time with Tigers. “I haven’t got a bad word to say about Castleford and I am looking forward to going back and playing there.

“I am still living in Cas so it’s around the corner for me, it is like a home game - I probably could walk to the game if I wanted to.”

The down side of that is Olpherts can expect some barracking when he is out and about over the next few days, if Rhinos don’t come away with the win.

“We need to get the win and they are desperate to get their first win so it is going to be a tough outing,” he predicted.

“Obviously I have played there as a home player and it’s a hard place to come and win. It is a big game and their games are getting bigger and bigger because they’ve not got that first win under their belt.

“The pressure’s building for them even more and we are just as desperate to keep winning as well, so it is going to be a big encounter.”

Tigers are without a head-coach after Lee Radford left the club just three games into the season.

Interim-boss Andy Last’s first game in charge was a 36-6 loss at Huddersfield Giants last Friday, but Olpherts reckons Castleford are a better side than results suggest.

“Every team’s a threat in this league,” he added. “We won’t be taking them lightly at all, but we want to keep building on what we’ve done in the last couple of games. We want to keep improving and obviously the main thing is to keep winning.”

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A third successive victory would lift Leeds to third in the table, for 24 hours at least. They backed up their shock 25-24 defeat of St Helens with a 26-0 win over Wakefield Trinity last week, after a scoreless first-half.

“I think we were happy with the second-half,” Olpherts reflected. “In the first-half we could have been better, there were quite a lot of ball handling errors, but it was a wet, slippery night, though I’m not saying that’s any excuse.

“We still haven’t hit our best form and we know there’s more in us, 100 per cent. It is only round four, we are just going to keep getting better and better and building on what we’ve been doing in training and all pre-season. We’ll trust in the process.

“You want to be playing well and winning, but you also want to see subtle improvements week-in and week-out and what you’ve been working on coming together.

“It’s still early, but we want to be playing a good brand of rugby every week and that’s our aim.”

Rhinos will be without winger/centre Ash Handley who suffered an ankle injury against Wakefield, but long-term casualties Harry Newman and James Bentley made their first appearance of the season last week, Justin Sangare is back in contention after paternity leave and Mikolaj Oledzki is now around two weeks away from his comeback following shoulder surgery.

“There’s competition for places,” Olpherts said. “Leeds have always been a team that have had strong squads - for as long as I can remember they have always had strength in depth.

“That keeps you on your toes, wanting to have a good game every game. We are all fit, but by round four you get that match fitness which you can’t really train for.

“I think that has come now. I am feeling good, I feel fresh, strong and powerful and I feel I’m getting better every week.

“I’ve just got to keep building on that, concentrate on my game and what I can give to the team.”