YEP Jury: Danny McGuire’s masterclass leaves Leeds Rhinos right back in the relegation mix

Our fans’ panel look back at Leeds Rhinos’ costly defeat to relegation rivals Hull KR and ahead to Sunday’s home clash with Hull FC.
Danny McGuire feeds a scrum during Hull KR's victory over Leeds Rhinos at Emerald Headingley last week.Danny McGuire feeds a scrum during Hull KR's victory over Leeds Rhinos at Emerald Headingley last week.
Danny McGuire feeds a scrum during Hull KR's victory over Leeds Rhinos at Emerald Headingley last week.

READ: Leeds Rhinos director of rugby Kevin Sinfield supports return of reserve-grade rugby

ANDREW SUTCLIFFE

Konrad Hurrell touches down for Leeds Rhinos' third try against Hull KR.Konrad Hurrell touches down for Leeds Rhinos' third try against Hull KR.
Konrad Hurrell touches down for Leeds Rhinos' third try against Hull KR.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

So the nightmare scenario of an ex-Leeds player coming back to haunt us was true, unfortunately it wasn’t just one, it was several. Danny McGuire appeared to be untouchable, Matt Parcell controlled the ruck and both Mitch Garbutt and Weller Huaraki ran strongly.

Leeds collectively were poor and lacked any real go forward. The fact we only had two recognised props in the 17 was worrying from the start and showed throughout the game.

Hull KR deserved the win without doing anything spectacular, we gifted them too much easy ball and gave the whistle-happy Robert Hicks plenty of opportunity to ensure he was on TV regularly.

At this stage of the season and with what is at stake, it needs putting to the back of their minds now and focus on Sunday’s game.

Mose Masoe makes a grab for Jack Walker.Mose Masoe makes a grab for Jack Walker.
Mose Masoe makes a grab for Jack Walker.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hull FC have the ability to be tremendous and awful – often in the same game so shouldn’t be feared.

Getting Brad Singleton and hopefully Nathaniel Peteru back should beef up the front-row allowing the halves some space. We can’t be as bad again!

LUKE CROSSFIELD

Last Friday was the perfect opportunity to gain some breathing space in the relegation battle and we blew it.

Danny McGuire put on a masterclass in his final appearance at Headingley. I don’t understand how we can go from being tight in defence at Castleford to some very poor defence last Friday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I thought our attitude was very poor and it contributed to a lot of errors.

Our discipline is still a complete shambles and it needs fixing immediately. Goal kicking was poor for both teams which was very bizarre.

Onto this Sunday and we play the enigma of the Super League in Hull FC. One week Hull can be one of the best teams and the other they could be one of the worst.

They have some threats especially Ratu Naulago who has been a fantastic pick up from the British army.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hopefully they may have their eye on the Challenge Cup semi-final next week.

Congratulations to Syd Hynes, John Atkinson, Eric Harris and Barrie McDermott on entering the hall of fame.

OLIVER HAWKHEAD

Everything that was good about the previous week’s game seemed to go out of the window last week.

Unlike our recent performances, we were actually sluggish out of the blocks and this meant we were always chasing the game and so rushed our opportunities. We weren’t clinical with the ball and the forward pack got dominated for the majority of the game.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This meant that Danny McGuire had the time and room to play in.

As we all know, he played us off the park and deserved the reception he got at the end of the game.

Although some of Hull KR’s play was thoroughly enjoyable to watch, our defensive efforts were poor and this made them look much better. Some might say that if we could kick goals then maybe we would have had a chance but on the flip side, if Craig Hall had his kicking boots on then we would have been 20 points down within 20 minutes.

These are the sorts of games that we need to win otherwise we will need to produce more performances like last week against the top-half teams.

THOMAS LAWRENCE

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Last week I said that if we matched the standard that we set at Castleford a week earlier then we would have no trouble dispatching Hull KR and unfortunately we could not hit anywhere near that standard last Friday evening.

As expected, the ex-Leeds boys turned up against us and proved a point, but the performance was simply not good enough in attack, defence or discipline.

The continuing trend of this season for Leeds is that we are defining our own downfall – every time I think we have turned a corner we just crash and as a result of this crash it really does feel like a missed opportunity. We could have had a nice cushion from danger, but we are still in a relegation battle. As ever, we don’t have time to dwell on it, we can only move on and try to pocket the next two points available.

Once again, it won’t be an easy one, but it would be so Leeds to turn up against high flying Hull FC, who despite their league position have shown vulnerabilities this season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hopefully these vulnerabilities are apparent to us and we expose them to the max.

TIM NUTTALL

Just when you think we have turned a corner, we are reminded that we are still more than capable of putting in the type of performance that was served up on Friday.

Simply put, we just didn’t get going at all, the tone for the game was set in that first 10-15 minutes where errors and poor discipline invited Rovers into good field position, and they took advantage of it.

In recent weeks we had really stiffened up down the middle but the amount of times our line was broken on Friday was worrying.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

We also seemed to slip back into bad habits of really poor last tackle options.

I am glad that Danny McGuire got the send off he deserved, he still doesn’t look right in a Rovers shirt!

Onto Sunday’s game and the visit of Hull FC, another team where you are never really sure what to expect.

I just hope we see a good reaction and performance.

Finally, I wrote my last contribution before the ladies’ semi-finals were played. Massive congratulations to Leeds Rhinos and good luck in the final!

KATIE BURROWS

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Just when it feels like we’ve turned a corner, we go and do that!

I’m hoping Friday’s performance was a blip; it was clear Hull KR definitely wanted, and arguably needed, the win more, but we’re now unfortunately right back in the relegation mix. Lucky for us, Huddersfield lost again, and Wakefield look to be having another bad run, which means they’re not far away either.

Danny McGuire was absolutely fantastic for KR; he completely ran the show and it was a fitting farewell for him at Headingley, even if it did mean we were on the wrong end of his brilliance.

It will be interesting to see who Richard Agar chooses to play alongside Robert Lui in the halves on Sunday, given Richie Myler will be serving a one-match ban.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It will most likely be Liam Sutcliffe, but it’s possible young Callum McLelland will be given a chance.

I’m hoping Hull decide to rest a few players ahead of their Challenge Cup semi-final next week, as we hope to avoid a result similar to when we last played them in March.

Related topics: