Leeds Rhinos don't fear anyone in Super League says Leeds Rhinos ace Brad Dwyer

Rhinos will face the French side in Perpignan on Friday, a week after a 26-18 home loss to the same opposition.

That ended Rhinos’ four-match winning run and extended Dragons’ to a club-record eight games.

But, having trailed 8-0 early on, Leeds hit back to lead by 10 points at the break and Dwyer reckons they can take confidence from what they did in the first half.

That showed they can open up Catalans’ defence when they get possession and field position and he said: “We were still at 50 per cent completions and we gave away a few penalties so we weren’t at our best.

“But at half-time we were still pleased with how we’d gone and if they are top of the league, we don’t fear anyone really.

“It’s a case of getting some fresh bodies back and believing in what we do.

“We’ve shown over the last few weeks it works.

“If anything, there’s a bit of frustration we went away from that [last Friday], but I think that’s down to fatigue.”

The game last week was Rhinos’ fourth in 13 days and they faded in the second half, when Catalans dominated and ran in three unanswered tries.

Reflecting on the way Rhinos ran out of steam, Dwyer said: “That’s what’s going to happen when you’ve got four games in 13 days and you’re playing against a fresh team.

“There’s no excuses, but I think in games teams get momentum and we had no energy to turn that in the end, which normally we would have.”

After a month off, because of Covid, three wins - over Salford Red Devils, Leigh Centurions and Warrington Wolves - was an impressive return from Rhinos’ recent run.

“The spirit has been great and it has been good to be a part of,” Dwyer said.

“We came away disappointed [last week] because it was a game we could have won, but when you look at the bigger picture, the results we’ve had with the adversity we’ve faced, it is pleasing.

“We go over to France this week and hopefully we can do a job.

“We certainly feel we can if we get some energy back and clean up a bit of discipline and our completions.”

Rhinos will get a chance to train for this Friday’s game, after their recent cycle of play, recover and play again.

“It has been a bit of a whirlwind, but we had a couple of days off to freshen up and then we could come back in and actually do some preview on a team, so that was good,” Dwyer reflected.

The hooker was at the heart of things for Rhinos during their fixture pileup, playing all 80 minutes against Salford, Leigh and Warrington before being given a breather during the Catalans game.

“I was disappointed with [last week’s performance], but I probably had about 50 per cent in me,” he admitted.

“Both my calves were tight, from about 10 minutes into the Warrington game I didn’t feel I had much energy in me or I could win a tackle.

“There was bags of effort, but it was still disappointing to lose.

“But that’s just the way it is with playing so many games in so few days.

“Those are circumstances we should not be playing in and hopefully we’ll be better with a week to prepare for the next one.”

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