A relieved Brad Arthur acknowledged that Leeds Rhinos were fortunate to secure a narrow one-point victory over London Broncos today.
For the second time in under two months, Leeds Rhinos defeated the Betfred Super League’s bottom team with a golden-point extra-time drop goal from stand-off Brodie Croft. While Brad Arthur was happy with the win, he found little else to be positive about.
“There’s not much to say about that performance,” he admitted after the 21-20 victory. “The other team outplayed us today, but we still managed to get the result. That’s just how it goes sometimes.”
Rhinos were up 14-6 late in the first half and held a 20-16 lead with five minutes remaining, but a series of mistakes and penalties allowed London Broncos to stay in the game. Oli Leyland struck the post with his conversion attempt following the Broncos’ equalizing try at 75 minutes, and the hosts missed several drop goal attempts afterward, including one by Jack Campagnolo that bounced off the crossbar.
Brodie Croft boots the winning golden-point drop goal for Leeds Rhinos at London Broncos. Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com.
A similar scenario unfolded at AMT Headingley in July, where Leeds narrowly escaped with another golden-point win from Brodie Croft. Reflecting on the game, Arthur acknowledged, “They [London] didn’t deserve to lose. Football can be cruel at times; they were the better team. They hit the post twice—they were unlucky.”
“We caught a bit of luck and managed to win the game, which is what we needed to do. We’re taking the two points home, but we’re not satisfied with how it played out. With just a five-day turnaround, we know that performance wasn’t up to par. There’s no need to dwell on it,” Arthur remarked.
The Rhinos are set to face second-bottom Hull FC on Friday in their final home game of the season. Despite remaining eighth in the Betfred Super League, just one point outside the top-six, Leeds’ performance at Plough Lane was their weakest since Arthur took over two months ago.
Arthur commented, “We’ve been consistent for a while, with strong effort and physicality, but today they outperformed us in that area. I don’t want to diminish their effort—they gave it everything they had. We anticipated that, but we simply didn’t execute our game well enough.”
Lachie Miller celebrates as a relieved Brodie Croft is congratulated following his winning drop goal for Leeds Rhinos at London Broncos. Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com.
Despite the challenges, the coach identified a few positives. “We had to push through to 90 minutes, and at least we held on,” Arthur noted. “Rhyse Martin broke a record, and we got through the game without any major injuries, which is crucial with a five-day turnaround. Plus, we secured the two points. If we hadn’t, our season would’ve been over, so we need to capitalize on this now.”
Martin, who will be joining Hull KR next season, scored 20 of Leeds’ 21 points and became only the 14th player in the club’s history to surpass 1,000 points. “That’s a great achievement,” Arthur said, but he added, “It looked good on the scoreboard for him, but there were areas in his game where he was just as guilty as the others in terms of effort.”
Arthur also mentioned that Croft had been unwell during the week. “His performance was just okay today,” he admitted. “He’s been a bit under the weather all week, and it showed in his play. But at the end of the day, he won us the game, so he earned his keep.”