Rohan Smith defended Harry Newman after the Leeds Rhinos centre made a critical error in the club's Challenge Cup defeat to Wigan Warriors. Newman made a late break with the Rhinos trailing by four points but he decided not to pass to Richie Myler in a two-on-one situation, instead attempting a dummy.
Bevan French ultimately made the tackle and the chance went begging, as well as Leeds' hopes of winning the game. It was a huge moment in the contest and one that ultimately didn't go their way. Newman had scored earlier in the contest in a similar incident, attempting a dummy that French had also read, but Newman was able to wriggle free to score the try.
The Rhinos would lose the game, having held an 18-14 lead, and when asked about the key moment, Smith refused to criticise the young talent.
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“He’s trying to come up with the right thing and Bevan French has taken intercepts on those sort of situations before or disrupted them in the past," he told the BBC. “It’s all happening very fast in that moment and you never really understand unless you’re out there, so most of us will never understand.”
On the game, Smith added: “It was different, but I do think that second half could have gone either way. After they got a good start to the second half, the battle was on. We’ve had a couple of really high-intensity games this year, but I think that was one of the better games in general that I’ve been a part of this season.”
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