16 February 2024 , 22:28
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Leeds boss Rohan Smith hailed his side’s toughness but reckoned fans can brew-up during all Super League’s stoppages.
Sam Lisone stormed over to get Leeds out of jail against gutsy Salford. With the scores locked at 16-16, the hulking prop carried two helpless defenders over the line with him for his match-winning 69th minute score. Fuming Salford were down to 12 men after Amir Bourouh was sin-binned for a dubious laying-on decision. Desperate Leeds then denied old boy Kallum Watkins with a crucial tackle at the death.
But there were countless stoppages and Smith bemoaned: “What are we doing? It felt like a two hour game. Salford are a super well-coached team. But I wish we weren’t stopping the game for players to do their boots up or get treated. It’s an atmosphere killer.
"You go make another cup of tea if you’re at home watching that. I’m all for player safety but how many replays did we see of the Paul Momirovski challenge? And it still wasn’t conclusive. I’m really proud of how we played: it was tough, hard footy. But too many stoppages.”
All the pre-match talk was over two ex-Salford stars. Rhinos forked out a six-figure fee to bring former Man of Steel Brodie Croft and England hooker Andy Ackers over from cash-strapped Red Devils in the off-season. Leeds fans taunted their travelling support with chants of “We saved your club.”
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And they also gave Nene Macdonald - one of five former Rhinos players in their ranks - plenty of abuse after his acrimonious Headingley exit. But both of Rhinos’ big signings had quiet games as the visitors threatened an opening night upset. Salford boss Paul Rowley has been telling anyone who’d listen how shafted his squad has been by the club’s financial issues.
Chris Hankinson of Salford Red Devils and Rhyse Martin of Leeds Rhinos come together (Getty Images)But he’s also told everyone that whichever side he puts out they’d be full of passion, spirit and guts. They showed that in abundance tonight but were ultimately undone with Leeds winger Ash Handley celebrating his 28th birthday with two tries. Salford took a 15th minute lead via Marc Sneyd’s penalty but soon after were down to 12 men.
Ryan Brierley copped Croft high in a two-man tackle and was shown a yellow card. Rhyse Martin levelled with the penalty but Salford weren’t deterred. After Handley spilled Sneyd’s steepling kick, Cade Cust latched onto his scrum-half’s grubber for the opening try.
Sneyd improved but Leeds recovered moments before Brierley returned to the field. Handley quickly atoned for his error with a stunning 90m try. He found space down the left but looked to be measured up by Macdonald.
Salford's Cade Cust on the run (PA)However, the England winger found another gear to leave his former team-mate flapping. Martin converted but, after Luis Roberts was harshly judged to have fumbled, Rohan Smith’s side conceded an awful try. Ollie Partington had no right to score picking up from dummy-half close to the line. But the Salford loose forward simply went through Ackers.
Sneyd did the rest for a 14-8 interval lead they fully warranted. Rhinos improved after the break - they needed to - and Handley scored his second when gathering Martin’s grubber in the 48th minute. Martin slotted another touchline conversion but saw his side go behind again after Paul Momirovski’s hugely-debated 58th minute yellow card.
The ex-Penrith centre, one of six Rhinos debutants, was deemed to have shoulder charged Chris Atkin as the Salford player spilled. Sneyd slotted the penalty but that was soon cancelled out by Martin after Borough was sin-binned and then Lisone struck.
Rowley said: “We were resilient last year again. It’s a trait we’re proud of. To display that character tonight left me very proud. There were some sin-bins but I don’t think anyone was being malicious on either side. But I would question how we didn’t get one ‘six again’.
"That would have been important to us. It was to Lisone who made a big impact for them. There was disparity there. I think we’re all coming to terms with new rules. But we have no complaints. We’d just like a few going our way.”