Leeds 46-10 Catalans: Rhinos rampant against Dragons

Match Stats

Leeds tries: Cuthbertson (8,58), Parcell (38), Keinhorst (47), Burrow (65), McGuire (67), Sutcliffe (78)
Conversions: Sutcliffe (8,16,38,47,58,65,67,78,80)

Catalans tries: Wiliame (30), Bousquet (53)
Conversions: Walsh (53)

Match Report

Leeds delivered the perfect response to last week's record Super League defeat by ending Catalans Dragons' unbeaten start to the season in style.

An open letter from chief executive Gary Hetherington suggested Brian McDermott had four matches to save his job in the wake of the 66-10 rout at Castleford and the Rhinos showed they were fully behind their coach in a convincing 46-10 victory.

McDermott, who sprang a surprise by starting Joel Moon at stand-off and Liam Sutcliffe in the second row, saw his side go into the break 14-4 up despite losing two players to the sin bin.

Adam Cuthbertson opened the scoring from Matt Parcell's offload and he returned the favour just before the break after Brayden Williame had responded for the Dragons.

Jimmy Keinhorst and Julian Bousquet traded tries but Cuthbertson went over for his second before Rob Burrow, Danny McGuire and Sutcliffe all crossed to complete an incredible turnaround in fortunes for the Rhinos.

Catalans would have been expecting a fast start from a fired-up Leeds and that is exactly what they had to contend with.

The Rhinos had already had a Sutcliffe try ruled out for a forward pass by Moon when Cuthbertson took Parcell's offload close to the line and reached out to touch down.

Sutcliffe converted from in front and - after Brad Singleton had been put on report for a late tackle on Greg Bird - knocked over a penalty to make it 8-0 to the much-improved Rhinos.

The hosts survived a scare when full-back Ashton Golding pulled off a try-saving tackle on Justin Horo after Luke Walsh's spiralling kick had bounced back off the upright.

More defending was to come after Cuthbertson's sin-binning for delaying a 20-metre tap sparked a series of penalties, which resulted in a team warning.

Referee James Child followed through on his threat to send another player to the sin bin, Keinhorst the player to see yellow.

That left Leeds down to 11 men and the Dragons' pressure finally told as centre Williame went over out wide.

Cuthbertson returned to the field for the restart and he quickly made amends for his indiscipline by laying on the Rhinos' second try, Parcell's first in Leeds colours after showing good strength to get to the line.

Sutcliffe made it three from three from the boot to give Leeds a 10-point cushion and the Rhinos started the second half with a full complement of players after Keinhorst's return from the bin.

Keinhorst dummied his way over from acting-half and Sutcliffe converted to make it 20-4 but Catalans were back in it when Bousquet touched down next to the posts despite loud calls for a forward pass.

The Dragons' comeback was shortlived as Leeds motored out of sight with three quickfire tries.

Cuthbertson powered his way over to settle any Leeds nerves before Burrow raced over from long range and McGuire finished off a fine team move for his first try since the 2015 Grand Final.

Sutcliffe got on the end of Burrow's kick to touch down and added two more goals to make it nine from nine as Leeds bounced back emphatically.

Match Reaction

Leeds coach Brian McDermott: "I believe we can win the Grand Final.

"I believed it last week but after that performance I wasn't going to tell anyone. But we can win the Grand Final.

"Sometimes you've got to be kicked in your nuts to find out the best of you.

"After last week we've still got a certain amount of bruising but you need a bit of that, although you probably don't need the 66 points.

"Tonight doesn't write off last week - it still hurts and we're still embarrassed by it.

"But I've got the best job in the game and part of that is dealing with the losses.

"When we lose everybody cheers and when we win they say, 'Leeds should win. Look at the backline they've got, look at the half-backs, look at the pack'. So it throws up some real challenges.

"Tonight was a good night but we need to knock out about another 10 versions of tonight over the next few weeks."

Dragons head coach Laurent Frayssinous: "I'm disappointed with the result and the attitude.

"The result was an outcome of the attitude. Leeds wanted it more in every department.

"There were signs defensively in the first half that we weren't ready for a big battle."