Leeds Rhinos 22, Salford Red Devils 16: YEP video review

YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on Leeds Rhinos' 22-16 win over Salford Red Devils in Betfred Super League round one.

Transcript

00:00 So, Super League is up and running and so are Leeds Rhinos. A rare first round win here

00:07 at AMT Headingley against Salford Red Devils. Only Leeds has third in the past nine seasons.

00:14 Tough game, 22-16 it finished and that's probably a fair reflection. Leeds scoring three tries

00:21 to two and I thought they did well to get the points. It's the sort of game they'd probably

00:27 have lost last year. A hard fought close match but they dug in, stuck at it, they trailed

00:35 three times in the game, managed to level each time and then San Luis Own, the best

00:42 on earth according to his song, he crashed over for a try to cap what I thought was a

00:46 strong game from him. Ten minutes from time, a football pass by Cameron Smith, a couple

00:51 of cracking tries scored by Leeds. The first by Ash Hanley was an absolute beauty and they

00:56 managed really well for his second try as well. I thought there was a lot to work on

01:02 obviously as you'd expect in round one. It was a solid performance rather than a spectacular

01:06 one but lots of effort, lots of commitment, lots of togetherness which are all good signs

01:11 at this point in the season. Some good performances, Ash Hanley I thought was very good, Cameron

01:17 Smith played well. The debutants will all be better, there were six of them, they'll

01:22 be better when they've had game time on the field with their new team mates. Leeds will

01:27 need to be better obviously but they will get better, I think they'll be a better team

01:30 when the conditions firm up. This was a good start, a positive start in front of an excellent

01:36 crowd of more than 15,000 at Headingley. Leeds now move on to a very interesting game at

01:42 Hull KR who also run from one on Thursday night. They'll need to play better in that

01:46 one then but I think if they can win that will be a real statement of intent.

01:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]