'˜We can tame the Tigers' says Leeds Rhinos' Mullally

BIG FORWARD Anthony Mullally says Leeds Rhinos have no fear of Castleford Tigers.
Leeds Rhinos forward, Anthony Mullally. PIC: Bruce RollinsonLeeds Rhinos forward, Anthony Mullally. PIC: Bruce Rollinson
Leeds Rhinos forward, Anthony Mullally. PIC: Bruce Rollinson

Rhinos have lost their last eight games against their West Yorkshire neighbours, including a 38-24 defeat last week.

That was the sides’ fourth meeting this year and they could be on course for another showdown in the Betfred Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford on October 7.

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Leeds boss Brian McDermott has admitted it will take an “incredible team” to stop Tigers adding the Super League trophy to the league leaders’ shield which they have already won.

But Mullally stressed Leeds’ players believe they can beat Castleford when it really matters.

“I don’t think we do fear them,” Mullally said.

“They have got the better of us in the last few games, but we back ourselves and we back our ability and when we get them again we will be confident we will do the job.”

Rhinos trailed 30-6 at half-time last Friday, but outscored their hosts in the second half .

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And the substitute front-rower feels that gives them something to build on. He said: “We were really disappointed with the first half. They started better than us, they were completing and we were dropping the ball.

“It just didn’t go our way, mainly due to us, but I think we need to take something from the second half. There’s two games left and we’ve got a home semi-final coming up.

“We had a good second half, we turned it around and we need to build on that going forward. We said that at half-time on Thursday – we said we can’t let what happened in the first half happen again.

“We had to take something out of it.”

Rhinos’ final games in the Super-8s are against the two lowest-ranked teams.

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They are at home to seventh-placed Salford Red Devils on Friday and visit Huddersfield Giants a week later.

“We need to put some consistent games together and build towards the semi-final, so when it comes to that we are ready to go,” Mullally added.

“We have got two weeks to put some things right and fix up some things that went wrong last week. We have got plenty of time and we will be confident.

“This week we just need a reaction from [the Castleford] game. It doesn’t matter who we are playing, we need to fix up what we did wrong.”

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Mullally came off the bench last week – for the 25th time in 30 appearances this year – and said he will be looking to carry on from where he left off.

“In the first half I think I only had one set with the ball, we were defending the rest of it,” he recalled.

“I got some okay carries in the second half which helped me build a bit of momentum. I was more pleased with the second half.

“But it’s not about me – it’s about the team.”