Leeds Rhinos reaction: Rohan Smith salutes 'good result', hails team's energy, provides injury update

Rhinos trailed 8-0 inside the final 10 minutes of their round 27 derby against Castleford Tigers at Headingley, but a penalty goal followed by two converted tries sealed a 14-8 win and a place in the play-offs..

Rhinos will travel to Catalans Dragons - their fourth visit to France in less than two months - for an elimination tie on Friday.

Leeds were in relegation danger when Smith took charge in May and Smith said: “The goal everyone sets out for at the start of pre-season training, as a minimum, is to be in the play-offs.

“To be there is a good result. It has been a tough year for players and staff alike. There’s been a few bumps in the road, but I think the work that started last November and continued all the way through has accumulated to get us to this point.”

The coach was pleased with the effort shown by his players in Saturday’s top-six decider, but admitted they “lacked fluency and didn’t respect the ball”.

He added: “I thought our energy was pretty decent on the back of a short turnaround and the travel back from France [last Monday].

“It was a good battle, that’s how the regular season should finish. Skill, in the end, got us a couple of tries, but the character held us in there.

“It was a pretty good defensive performance and I said to our analyst after the penalty goal, ’I think we’ll score two tries’, because our energy was good.”

Smith confirmed: “I sent a message on to kick the penalty, about 28 times! Every other time we’ve had a penalty in front of the posts since I’ve been here, everyone’s looked to the bench to ask what’s going on and nobody did this time.

“The message was clearly to kick the goal. We were struggling to get one score, so to take an easy one made sense to me.”

Ash Handley, Rhinos’ leading try scorer and Super League’s top metre-maker, left the ground on crutches with his left foot in a protective boot.

Smith said he has a “decent” ankle injury and is likely to miss the trip to Catalans.

Brad Dwyer picked up a knee injury and will be assessed.