LEEDS RHINOS was pleased with a “professional” 29-6 victory at Castleford Tigers in a hard-fought derby.
The Rhinos led 7-0 at half-time before a second-half onslaught saw them register four more tries.
Leeds head coach Brad Arthur was happy to say the least with his side’s victory, saying: “I thought it was pretty professional, we made limited errors and made good field position.
“We talked about getting to the end of the tackle count. I wasn’t too familiar with the shortened field and wanted to make sure to get to the end of the tackle and that’s where we would get our points from.
“They were brave and really had a crack. The amount of work they had to do took its toll in the end.”
Arthur did admit he was frustrated with Castleford’s only points, which came from a Brodie Croft missed tackle on Alex Mellor, with the latter sending Louis Senior over from halfway.
“It’s frustrating, everyone is chasing the perfect 80 minutes and we just had to reset and start again,” he said.
“Usually Crofty is a really good defender and he got it wrong, but he will learn from it.”
The Leeds boss hailed the impact of Sam Lisone, with the prop registering two tries and causing havoc all game.
“He was really good. I think the last month his footy has been good and we played to the conditions for him today when we have the ball,” added Arthur.
“He’s doing a good job defensively but he has a damaging carry so we need to keep the ball in our hands.
“He is powerful and explosive. He has worked really hard on his weight during pre-season and we challenged him.
“He wanted to be the best impact player in the game and he is earning that respect.”
Leeds also came away from the game injury-free, while Arthur was seen having a discussion with a Castleford fan after the final whistle.
“He was having a choice word about some of our tactics and I enjoyed the talk about it. I told him to relax,” explained Arthur.
“This is the bit I’ve enjoyed since I’ve been over here. It has lots of different experiences, I felt I’ve had to get better in areas.
“You can see the support Cas have got here.”
