Leeds Rhinos: Talking points from the pre-season win at Featherstone Rovers

Leeds fielded two teams, a first-choice lineup leading 18-6 at the break before fringe/young players took over for the second half. Here’s five talking points from Rhinos’ latest warm-up match.

1: Right approach. Leeds don’t usually field two separate sides in one pre-season game, but the tactic worked well. The senior players got 40 minutes into their legs, playing uphill on a heavy pitch against strong opposition, then a talented but very inexperienced team performed creditably after half-time. Some of Leeds’ kids, playing against men for the first time, learned valuable lessons and the second half also gave Rovers more of an opportunity to work on their attack.

2: The kids are all right. It keeps being said, but Leeds do have some quality outside their top-20. Stand-off Oli Field, whose long-term future may be in the back-row and scrum-half Jack Sinfield showed some nice touches against bigger, much more seasoned opponents and there is a lot to like about the centre pairing of Levi Edwards and Max Simpson. Also, the likes of Jack Broadbent, Jarrod O’Connor and Sam Walters have clearly taken a lot from the enforced game time they had last year.

3: Bulls test. Whether the youngsters can back-up a week later, over a longer period, remains to be seen. Most of Rhinos’ first team players are likely to be rested at Bradford Bulls on Sunday, meaning it will be a young team from the off and another big challenge for them.

4: Half measures. It’s early days, but new halves Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer went well again. Scrum-half Sezer directed Rhinos around the field nicely in the first half and Austin, at stand-off, was involved in two tries. With more game time, on drier tracks, they will be a threat.

5: Jack Walker. Rhinos’ number one is in full training and might feature against Bradford, which would be a big plus. Richie Myler, though, was very good, again, against Rovers and will be tough to displace.

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