Leeds will have to defy history if they are to win the Super League title after labouring their way to a third successive defeat to start the new season, this time coming unstuck against Catalans Dragons on a frustrating evening for the eight-times champions.
No team in the modern era has ever reached the Grand Final, let alone won it, having lost their first three games of a season, and here the Rhinos were beaten by two tries to one to remain winless in 2022. While nothing is won in February, these are concerning times for Leeds supporters, whose side are yet to click and were largely ineffective against a Catalans side that have won two of their opening three games.
Their only points of the night came when Blake Austin scored in the first half and at that stage, Leeds led 4-0. But tries either side of half-time from Fouad Yaha and Joe Chan consigned the Rhinos to a third straight defeat, and their night was made even worse after a potentially serious injury to forward Alex Mellor, who was stretchered from the field and then taken to hospital with a neck injury, though Leeds are hopeful that is a precautionary measure.
“The game never got any real flow to it, and we said at half-time that the first team to get some tempo in their game would bring it home, but it never really got that far,” their coach, Richard Agar, said. “Our ability to execute was so far off the mark. There were times when it was painful to watch.”
Catalans, much like Leeds, were way below the form which took them to last year’s Grand Final. But they were just about good enough here to pick up a second win of the season, with their defensive effort in particular well worthy of a mention on a stop-start night at Headingley.
Without a number of key forwards, Catalans withstood pressure aplenty from the Rhinos in the final minutes, not least when their half-back, Mitchell Pearce, was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle. Steve McNamara, the Catalans coach, described that moment as “pathetic”, before being equally critical of a disallowed try for Yaha in the second half which would have put the result beyond doubt.
“Wow,” he said. “Our owner is recovering in France and I hope he wasn’t watching at that point or it would have set him back.” Catalans also have a concern to a key player, after the reigning Man of Steel, Sam Tomkins, left the field with a knee injury which will be assessed in the coming days.
“We haven’t been great defensively so far this season and we had to withstand a lot of pressure at the end,” McNamara said. “We were out on our feet. I was sick of hearing about the players Leeds had not playing, it’s all you guys talk about. We’re concerned with the players who are playing, not who aren’t.”
