Why derby day is vital for both Leeds Rhinos and Wakefield Trinity – Peter Smith

At the start of March Leeds Rhinos travelled to Wakefield Trinity for a Betfred Super League derby which, in round four, was already being described as “must-win”.

The reverse fixture will be played at Headingley tomorrow and, two months on, the situation has not changed.

The losers this time will be, at best, second from bottom in the table at the half-way point of the campaign.

And if Trinity suffer a hefty defeat and Toulouse Olympique pull off a sizeable win at Huddersfield Giants, Wakefield could find themselves in the basement by about 10pm on Friday evening.

A Toulouse victory at fourth-placed Huddersfield is unlikely, but Giants will be eight days away from a Betfred Challenge Cup final and it might be a good time to play them.

Toulouse are now only two points behind Trinity and three adrift of Leeds, who are back in the mire after losing to Salford Red Devils four days ago.

Successive wins seemed to have eased the pressure on Rhinos, but they went backwards, with a supposedly stronger team on show, at the AJ Bell Stadium and if Toulouse’s next win comes before Leeds’, it will be ‘squeeky bum time’ once again.

Realistically, Toulouse remain favourites to go down; they have the weakest squad and don’t look like winning many games on the road, but it is far from a foregone conclusion.

They have been very competitive at home, beating St Helens and Wakefield and pushing Wigan Warriors and Hull KR close and as the summer goes on – and conditions get hotter – will pick up some points on their own turf.

They have also added a couple of big names to their squad from the NRL, Corey Norman and Daniel Alvaro, who made his debut against Trinity.

After losing their first four games this season, then putting together a similar winning run, Trinity have suffered six successive defeats.

But their squad is good enough to get them out of trouble and, as their record so far suggests, once Trinity get one win, two or three more tend to follow. Leeds are having a miserable year and whenever light appears at the end of the tunnel, it turns out to be an on-coming train.

There were high expectations going into the Salford game, after recent improved results and performances, with some key players back and Rohan Smith in the coaching hot seat for the first time, but they regressed two months to their previous fixture on the same ground.

A 14-point defeat that evening ended Richard Agar’s spell as coach and Rhinos lost by 15 last weekend.

But maybe that is not such a shock. Leeds have had three coaches in 13 competitive games and that’s a big change.

As individual players have stressed, it takes time to get used to new ways of doing things.

The first two games under interim-boss Jamie Jones-Buchanan were lost by an aggregate score of 66-16, before a draw, two-point defeat and back-to-back wins in his final four.

The likes of Richie Myler, David Fusitu’a and Zak Hardaker will all be better with 80 minutes under their belt and more players are due back this week.

Whatever results suggest, Rhinos have a talented squad and if/when Smith gets them playing anywhere near their potential, they will be fine.

But obviously, that needs to happen sooner rather than later.

The bottom three aren’t the only ones having a poor year.

Hull KR seem to be in free fall, only Leeds’ problems have deflected attention from how poor Warrington Wolves have been and Salford lost six successive games between the wins over Rhinos.

Since Super League began, in 1996, eight different clubs have finished top of the table – four of them winning the competition – and 12 have come last and/or been relegated.

Unfortunately, yet again, the situation at the foot of the ladder is of more interest than what’s happening at the top.