Leeds Rhinos 'wounded' after Super League play-offs exit - but winger Ash Handley says they are on the up

Rhinos’ season ended when they were beaten 26-14 by Catalans Dragons in an elimination tie last Friday - their first game in the play-offs since the 2017 Grand Final defeat of Castleford Tigers.

Handley finished the campaign as top try scorer in the regular Betfred Super League season, with 14 and crossed twice in Rhinos’ Coral Challenge Cup final victory over Salford Red Devils, taking his tally for that competition to five.

Leeds’ fifth place on the table was their highest finish for three years, following battles against relegation in each of the past two campaigns and Handley feels they are now heading in the right direction, but he accepts it will take time for that to sink in after their hopes of a double were shattered.

“It is not the best at the minute, we are wounded, really,” the England squad member said of the mood in Rhinos’ camp following the loss to Catalans.

“In a few days I will probably think we have come a long way, but we are a bit sour at the minute.”

Catalans scored four tries to Leeds’ three in the tie at Warrington’s HJ Stadium and were 18-0 ahead after half an hour.

Rhinos rallied either side of half-time, but left themselves too much to do and Handley insisted that is a lesson they have to learn about play-offs rugby.

“They scored in pretty much the first minute of the game,” he recalled.

“If you give good teams a head start it is not the best, especially in big games like that.

“We hurt ourselves, really. We just had too much to do.”

Rhinos were already missing front-rowers Adam Cuthbertson and Tom Holroyd because of injury and Ava Seumanufagai and Mikolaj Oledzki both failed a head injury assessment in the first half, leaving Matt Prior as their only specialist front-rower.

With only 15 available players for most of the game, the odds were stacked against them, but Handley was encouraged by Leeds’ never say die spirit, particularly in the third quarter when they cut the gap to eight points.

He said: “Ava went down pretty much the first 10-15 minutes and then big Mik as well and that didn’t help us.

“But we did our best, I thought everyone dug in together and we had a chance to come back in the second half, but we pretty much gifted them a try and that gave us too much to do.

“We ran out of time.”

But the way Leeds stuck to their task after Catalans’ fast start is a sign of the progress they have made, Handley believes.

“A couple of years ago we were facing teams and games were going in that manner and we were folding,” he said.

“We would never be able to get it back, but nowadays you think, if they go a couple of tries in front, we have a chance of bringing it back.

“That is a bit of a positive, that we always believe we are capable of bringing it back.”

Of what else to take from this year, Handley added: “We have got a good group of young lads who are testing everyone, they are training well and they deserve their chance when they get it.

“They have stepped up really well.”

Next year’s schedule has not been announced, but Super League is expected to start in March.

Rhinos’ pre-season began last November and Handley admitted the squad are ready for a break, having had to train alone throughout the long coronavirus shutdown.

“Not just for rugby, the whole year has been crazy ,” he added.

“We will have a bit of a rest now and then we’ll be ready to go again.

“We’ll learn from this loss and hopefully we can get in this position next year and we’ll know what to do and what not to do so it doesn’t happen again.”

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