Leeds Rhinos Suffer Injury Blow in Defeat to St Helens
Leeds Rhinos’ new recruit Matty Russell endured an unfortunate start to his tenure, sustaining an injury during his team’s 40-10 loss against league leaders St Helens on Friday night. According to coach Rohan Smith, the Scottish international, who joined the Rhinos on a two-month loan from Warrington Wolves, was forced to leave the field just before the half-hour mark following a tackle by Saints’ centre Mark Percival.
Russell, 30, underwent a head injury assessment, which he failed, and also suffered a knock to his knee in the same challenge. Adhering to concussion protocols, the outside-back will now miss next Saturday’s West Yorkshire derby against Castleford Tigers, while his knee injury will undergo further evaluation in the coming days.
“He seems okay now but it’s another outside-back that we’ve lost in the first half of a game,” a disappointed Smith remarked after the match. “It’s been a conveyer belt there.”
Despite being only 12-6 down at the break, the Rhinos were outclassed in the second half as St Helens scored 28 unanswered points to reclaim the top spot in the Super League table. Smith acknowledged his team’s shortcomings, stating:
“Overall it wasn’t the standard. We attacked the game to start with and we were in some control in a hard-fought first 20 or 30 minutes, but in the second half we just got off to a really bad start with some errors and they put on some good plays back-to-back which made the scoreboard out of our favour.”
Despite the disappointing result, the Rhinos coach remains confident in his ability to turn the team’s fortunes around:
“We’ve got a group that is still new, we’re miles off playing to the ability that we think we’re capable of, but that’s a guess, because there’s a bunch of new players to the club this year and almost everyone in the club is in their first or second year of having a significant role in the team,” Smith said.
The Rhinos will look to bounce back next Saturday when they host their local rivals Castleford Tigers at Headingley, eager to showcase their true potential and climb the Super League standings.
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