YEP Jury: Magic win was vital for Leeds Rhinos but they almost pressed the self-destruct button

Our fans’ panel have their say on Leeds Rhinos’ narrow victory over London Broncos at Magic Weekend
Richie Myler touches down against London.Richie Myler touches down against London.
Richie Myler touches down against London.
London celebrate one of Jordan Abdull's tries.London celebrate one of Jordan Abdull's tries.
London celebrate one of Jordan Abdull's tries.

TIM NUTTALL

It wasn’t pretty, it got very nervy, but in the end the Rhinos managed to hang on for two very important points.

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Had the Rhinos managed to throw the game away, it would be hard to see how the players could have possibly picked themselves back up.

Whilst players and fans alike will feel a sense of relief, there remains a lot of work to do if this is to be the start of a significant turnaround or just a win against a fellow struggler.

Leeds Rhinos players celebrate Liam Sutcliffe's try against London.Leeds Rhinos players celebrate Liam Sutcliffe's try against London.
Leeds Rhinos players celebrate Liam Sutcliffe's try against London.

The first 10 or so minutes were possibly as good as anything the team have produced for a long time, but it remains concerning that the team continue to go through patches when the self destruct button is hit and we look all over the place.

There were some decent performances, for me Jack Walker (while he was on), Ash Handley, Harry Newman and Trent Merrin stood up.

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Due to our Challenge Cup exit, we have another week until we play Wakefield, for me, a game which will give us a good indication as to whether there is some genuine improvement here.

KATIE BURROWS

And breathe! Not a pretty win, and not a fantastic performance, but we got the two points and that was the most important thing.

Full credit to London who never gave in and who very nearly pinched the game, again.

We now have a week off, plenty of time to work on a number of things; our defence still leaves a lot to be desired and our discipline must improve.

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Our attack is disjointed at times and we often find ourselves standing still; we need to work on our defence of short kick offs (and kicks in the air generally), and it would be good to see us pass the ball out wide more.

We face Wakefield (away), Wigan (home), St Helens (away) and Catalans (home) in June, and I think we are capable of picking up six points from those games, although I feel we’ve been here before and whether or not we will is another matter!

Lastly, the Leeds Rhinos women’s team continued to show us how it’s done, beating York City Knights Ladies by 70 points to nil in the Challenge Cup.

ANDREW SUTCLIFFE

Two points is better than no points! We were made to work extremely hard for them by London, especially with the unforced errors and some generous/interesting refereeing decisions against us.

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I can see why Richard Agar was aggrieved at full time. I support the clamping down on penalties at the ruck but they seem to favour the defensive team more now.

There were some strong individual performances but again little cohesion as a team and we’re desperately missing some experience in the pack.

London had little to lose and cheered on by the rest of Super League came close to stealing the points again.

The average age of this team was around 25 with no-one over 30 playing. The future looks good but it’s the here and now which needs sorting.

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We have a week off now to hopefully sort the coaching situation out and get some players back from injury. All seems to have gone quiet on both fronts with no timescales coming from the club. Getting a strong coach and some experience back could stand us well in the coming weeks.

LUKE CROSSFIELD

I was literally speechless at full time on Sunday. Apart from Salford away in February we have not been able to close out a game in the league with time in hand.

Jack Walker was great on his return and Harry Newman once again showed great qualities. The way we started the game was great, however it is frustrating to see us not sustain it.

Our decision making is rather bizarre and the majority of the time we are inviting our opposition back into the game especially when we are conceding stupid penalties.

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The only positive from this season so far is the young players – they have not let us down and if we survive relegation then we have to build a squad around them.

Being out of the Challenge Cup is a blessing and it might give us a chance to get some more bodies back for Wakefield away.

Congratulations must go to the women’s team for their comprehensive win over York City Knights to get into the next round of the Challenge Cup.

THOMAS LAWRENCE

Stopped sweating yet? For now – yes, as Leeds’ Magic Weekend curse is halted with a first win at the showpiece event in seven years.

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I guess it epitomises the recent swing in fortunes at our club when a tight victory over London is something that takes some weight off our shoulders, but the hard work really does start now.

It was good to see some opportunist efforts provide Leeds with four-pointers this weekend, particularly from young players like Hary Newman and Alex Sutcliffe showing maturity in decision making. Albeit we had to hold in at the end, but some improved game management from the likes of Richie Myler and Brad Dwyer certainly helped us see the match out for a massive two points.

Now for a frustrating weekend ahead – a weekend in which we really should be competing for a Challenge Cup semi-final spot, nonetheless it is a weekend to reflect and move on and look for improvement once again ahead of another tricky trip to Wakefield. Hopefully the weekend off can put some much needed energy into the legs of our squad too.

OLIVER HAWKHEAD

Finally we got a win! It was by no means a convincing and clinical win but a win nonetheless.

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The team showed character and a bit of composure to hold on in the last few minutes against the Broncos which I thought was good to see.

Hopefully the win can boost us into next month and give us the confidence boost we desperately need.

I know people say there’s no easy games in Super League but our fixtures in June are perhaps our toughest spell this season.

The team needs all the support they can get with games against two of the top three; however we have shown signs that we can perform in these games. The team can draw hope from our last performances against Saints and Catalans Dragons and hopefully the boost of the Headingley crowd can get us a bit of separation from the bottom of the table.

Looking back over the Magic Weekend as a whole, I think it’s clear Anfield is not where the future of this fixture lies.

We need a venue that can enhance a match day atmosphere.