Leeds Rhinos' James McDonnell talks debut delight at St Helens and says team must kick-on v Wakefield Trinity

McDonnell’s first competitive appearance for the club he joined last autumn ended in jubilation thanks to Blake Austin’s 80th minute drop goal.

It was Rhinos’ first win of the Betfred Super League season - at the third attempt, after

losses to Warrington Wolves and Hull FC - and ended a five-year wait for a victory over Saints.

McDonnell started in the second-row and played the full 80 minutes of his seventh Super League appearance.

Half his previous six came last year, when he also featured 17 times on loan for Betfred Championship leaders and Grand Final winners Leigh.

Rhinos coach Rohan Smith has made it clear he believes McDonnell has a big future and the player stressed: “I said in pre-season, I have genuinely come here to play.

“I want to be pushing to play week in and week out. I spoke to Rohan after the game and he said he has confidence in me.

“Playing 80 minutes against Saints is hopefully an indicator of where I am at and it will give me a bit of confidence. I felt really good. I got involved where needed, which is the most important thing.”

McDonnell played for Ireland in last year’s World Cup and in three of Leeds’ pre-season matches, but had to wait for his competitive Rhinos debut.

He had been due to feature for Bradford Bulls against Toulouse Olympique, on dual-registration, six days before Leeds’ trip to St Helens, but was withdrawn from that game after fellow second-rower Morgan Gannon suffered concussion in Rhinos’ loss to Hull.

Victory on debut was special, but doing it against his previous - and hometown - club’s fiercest rivals made the win even sweeter for McDonnell.

He recalled: “I actually made my debut for Wigan against Saints. That was during Covid and it definitely went a different way [42-0 to St Helens].

“We lost by a few that night so to get my debut against Saints for my new club was massive and what a way to win.”

McDonnell believes victory away to the reigning Super League and World Club Challenge champions was also a clear sign of what Rhinos are capable of as a team.

Austin’s winning kick completed a fightback from 24-12 down early in the second half and McDonnell insisted: “This can be a kick-start for us, for our year.”

He said: “We know what we are capable of and I am sure our fans do, from the back end of last year and what we accomplished then.

“It was a rocky start to the year, but [last Friday was] definitely a kick-start for us now. Saints are the standard and have been for a couple of years now, so to go there - for their first home game in front of a massive crowd - and put in a performance like that was a real credit to us.”

Of how Leeds managed to fight back from what looked to be a losing position, McDonnell explained: “We were calm, really.

“We knew what we needed to do and we knew why we were behind, it was off our own errors. At the back end of the game, when it was on the line, we executed the way we needed to.”

Leeds’ next two games are against the sides below them on the round three table, Wakefield Trinity at home on Friday and away to Castleford Tigers six days later.

“It was a good place to get our first win and it gives us a lot of confidence going into the next game,” McDonnell added.

“I and all the boys and all the coaching staff had every confidence in us as a playing group. We knew we could go to Saints and get the win.

“People probably wrote us off before the game, but the travelling fans were great and that was a massive inspiration for us. We never wrote ourselves off and that’s the most important thing.”

Gannon could be back in contention for this week’s game and another second-rower James Bentley is expected to return from a long lay-off with knee damage sustained in pre-season.