Leeds Rhinos v Wakefield Trinity: Chester takes pressure off players for crunch derby

That is the message from Wakefield Trinity coach Chris Chester to his side ahead of tonight’s huge derby at Emerald Headingley.

Trinity began Betfred Super League round 21 in sixth place in the table, three points ahead of ninth-placed hosts Leeds Rhinos.

Wakefield will be guaranteed a place in the Super-8s for the third successive season if they come away with two points tonight.

Rhinos have lost their last eight league games, but a win this evening would revive their chances of finishing outside the bottom-four and heap more pressure on Trinity who are at home to Hull and visit Huddersfield Giants in their final two games of the regular season.

“It is important for Leeds,” said Chester of tonight’s opponents.

“They have got to try and get their season back up and running and a result against us would give them some hope.

“For us, a win secures the top-eight so there’s a lot on the line for both teams, but we have maybe put a bit too much pressure on the guys so we’ve told them to forget about the league table for the next three weeks and just worry about putting in a performance.”

Trinity have lost their last two games and were well below-par in the 35-18 defeat to Catalans Dragons six days ago.

That came after they had pushed league leaders St Helens all the way in their previous match and Chester is confident they have fixed what went wrong last weekend.

He said: “Without making excuses, two of our poorest performances of the season have come after we’ve played Saints.

“I think I got a few things wrong in the week and we fell off too many tackles and looked lethargic.

“Catalans looked bigger, faster and stronger and the scoreline flattered us.

“We’ve gone through it with a fine tooth comb and the guys have been very open and honest in review.

“Generally after a poor performance we have come up with a good one, so fingers crossed.