'˜Really good' - Brian McDermott happy with Leeds Rhinos' progress
Rhinos ran in five tries to one in a 30-4 victory over Championship side Hull KR in Ryan Hall’s testimonial game last night.
Hall did not have a try scoring chance, but delighted the 6,301 crowd with a conversion from the touchline in the final moments.
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Hide AdAnd McDermott was pleased with the way his near-full-strength side defended, though he reckons they need to improve on attack.
“We wanted to get something out of it,” McDermott said. “It’s a serious game and we needed to come out of it in better shape than how we went into it. I thought we were really solid. Certainly in attack we probably played a bit too conservative, but as a start off I have no real complaints with that.
“I thought our defence was great and that allows us to progress next week.
“It was a great crowd and they all got behind Ryan and he ended up kicking a goal from the sideline right at the end – crazy.”
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Hide AdNew signing Matt Parcell made an encouraging debut at hooker and McDermott said: “He ran, he didn’t need too much of an invite to do that. We will get better playing with him.
“The more games played with him the better it will be, but if that’s a start, it’s a good one.”
The coach added: “It was a warm-up game and a game where we need to find out where we’re at.
“We’ve got a better idea of that. There’s some very specific things we want to be better at, particularly in offense, but at the same time we’re not panicking either.
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Hide Ad“Some of the things we did out there I thought were really good.”
Rhinos complete their pre-season campaign next weekend with a trip to Featherstone Rovers on Friday night – where McDermott said he will field a strong side – and a game at Doncaster two days later.
“We will take Featherstone very seriously as well,” McDermott said.
Captain Danny McGuire was taken off with a “pulled quad” after scoring a try early in the second half..
“Let’s hope that’s just a bit of a niggle,” McDermott said.