Not his fault: Leeds Rhinos fans speak out on Harry Newman, Wigan Warriors Cup loss and chances v St Helens

Leeds lost 18-14, having been three scores ahead in the first half, but were close to snatching victory in the final seconds when Harry Newman made a break, but didn’t pass to the supporting Richie Myler and was tackled by Wigan full-back Bevan French.

Our fans’ jury give their views on that incident, Leeds performance and Rhinos’ chances against St Helens this weekend.

TOM GOLDSWORTHY

On a glorious Saturday afternoon, one perfect for a Challenge Cup battle between two rugby league heavyweights, Leeds let a 14-0 lead against Wigan slip as they fell to defeat at the first hurdle in the road to Wembley.

Leeds looked to have carried on where they left off last week against the Warriors, even with key players like Ash Handley and Blake Austin missing out through injury and illness.

It’s the first time this season we actually started playing from the kick off and took the game to our opponents.

The defence was solid enough to keep them to four points as well in the first half, but true to our season so far, we are still lacking an 80-minute performance from this team.

Wigan are a dangerous team and we should have been prepared for retaliation, especially after last week’s result.

Letting them score 18 unanswered points is inexcusable, especially when it could have been more if Harry Smith had brought his kicking boots.

As inconsistent as he can be, I believe we missed Blake Austin’s influence and it would have been a different result if he was in the side.

Harry Newman has come under a lot of criticism for his failure to put Richie Myler through for a game-winning try.

Whilst his decision-making in this scenario is obviously frustrating, this is a pleasing sign of confidence from a young player who is still learning.

His explosiveness is what makes him so dangerous in attack and as irritating as it is in this instance, it is important to support him and his abilities as he reaches his sky high potential.

St Helens are up next and I back the boys to put this disappointing loss behind them and pick up their second win in a row against the world champions.

The Saints have struggled in their title defence so far and I expect Leeds to add to the pressure on them and push ourselves back into the play-off picture.

BECKY OXLEY

Last week was Wigan in the Challenge Cup sixth round on the back of beating them the week before in the league. The sun was blazing down on Headingley and two late changes to the team, being without Blake Austin and Ash Handley due to injury and illness, meant an interesting game was on the cards.

It was nip and tuck and either team could have won. Unfortunately for us, the result went the wrong way, but for a neutral it was a great game.

Harry Newman got some stick for not passing the ball, but in my opinion it’s harsh to hold one player to account for losing the game. It’s a learning curve for Harry, but one play doesn’t make or break a game. I felt he showed some good skill and against Bevan French, who is a good calibre player, matched him well.

There were some chances we missed which could have changed the result, but now we can at least concentrate on the league and making some headway up the table.

St Helens is up next on Friday night. They haven’t had the best season so far and they will be looking to do the same as us and kick start their campaign.

Being on home soil should give us an advantage and hopefully the two points. It’s always a tough game and it’s always a fast paced game and I’m going to go for a Rhinos win by eight.

I get called the optimist, but I don’t like to be pessimistic. I’ve been a Rhinos supporter for too long and have learned not to be a Whino (as much as possible).

IAIN SHARP

The BBC enjoy a good repeat and due to a quirk of fate, Leeds and Wigan handily came out of the hat for a Challenge Cup tie a week to be played a week after the league clash between the sides.

Whilst maybe not for the fans of both sides, the viewing public witnessed a game that ebbed and flowed. I am sure everyone knew the crucial moment where the game was lost and it is a fundamental element of a centre’s role to draw the man and put his colleague into the resulting space.

The defeat leaves Leeds ample time to concentrate on the league and finding some consistency of performance for the rest of the season.

Overshadowing the game for me was the loss of my mate ‘Clarky’ (Paul Clark) in midweek after a short illness. He was part of my Leeds watching for much of the last 40 years and the club were wonderful in tweeting a tribute to him before the Wigan game.

I suppose, if you believe in that sort of thing, he has gone to a place where Headingley is always packed, the sun always shines and where a Leeds side is full of the greats like Eric Harris, Mick Shoebottom and John Holmes. ‘May God grant unto him, the eternal South Stand’.

DAVID MUHL

Yet again Leeds couldn’t put an 80-minute game together. After a reasonable first half we couldn’t continue in the second and let Wigan take the spoils.

A lot of discussion on social media centred around Harry Newman and his failure to pass to the supporting Richie Myler. In my view, for what it’s worth, it’s easy to criticise from the terrace.

These decisions are split second and if it comes off, as it did in the first half, he’s a hero. If it doesn’t, he’s a villain. I personally would back Harry every time. He’s an absolute quality player.

One thing the game showed for certain is how much we miss Blake Austin. I have waxed lyrically in the past about what a great player I think he is and Saturday just showed it.

I was worried the minute I saw the team sheet that we would badly miss him and Ash Handley and so it proved.

There were, though, still a few positives to be taken. I thought Mikolaj Oledzki showed signs of a return to form, Tom Holroyd is just a beast and improving every time he plays and Cam Smith continued his consistently good form.

I don’t think it was any disgrace to lose this game, Wigan are a top side, well placed on the Super League ladder and playing well. They were never going to play as badly as they did last week and we fought them all the way.

So no Cup run this year, but we can now concentrate on the league and this starts with the visit of St Helens, followed by games against Castleford, Wakefield and Huddersfield - all ones we should win on current form.

Always an optimist, I have faith in Rohan Smith and this group of players and I think come the end of the year, we will be there or thereabouts.

SAM BROCKSOM

I don’t want to talk about the elephant in the room as enough has been said about it already.

Yes, it was a deciding factor in the game, but we had enough chances to win the game without that moment.

The tries we conceded were soft, lazy and easily rectifiable. The poor defence from Harry Newman and James Donaldson allowed Bevan French to score such easy tries, and the other tries were just as lazy.

Just like Wigan last week, we had the game in our control and blew it. The lack of Blake Austin didn’t help our game management. The second half was full of sloppy errors and poor decisions in key areas of the pitch.

I thought Tom Holroyd was our best player by a long way. He has come on leaps and bounds since the injury and suspension last year.

We move to Saints on Friday. We beat them away from home, but can we do it again on our own turf? It depends which side turns up and if we play for more than 40 minutes.