Brian McDermott lauds his team’s performance in Engage Super League semi- final
Leeds Rhinos’ coach, Brian McDermott, is delighted with his team’s 26-24 win against the much stronger Warrington Wolves in the qualifying semi-final on Friday, September 30 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
With a brilliant performance from the team in and a last minute score from Kevin Sinfield, Leeds has booked an appearance in the Super League Grand Final showdown, which is the fourth time in five years the squad has succeeded in doing so. The latest victory is a major achievement for the club which struggled with their rankings in the league throughout the regular season.
While speaking about their unimpressive season earlier, which landed the franchise 13 points behind the leading club, McDermott shared his views about his team’s unexpectly massive win against the Wolves and said,
“It's very satisfying. The challenge is to keep in control when things are going awry and we've done that. This team has got integrity, courage and honour and even when things are not going in the right direction we haven't once moaned. I'm that proud of the players and glad for them that, for all stick they've copped this year, we find ourselves in the Grand Final.”
Sinfield is considered to have repeated history, with his extra-time penalty goal, similar to the one which took Rhinos to Wembley for the Challenge Cup final in August. The final showdown of the Challenge Cup was won by the Wigan Warriors.
If Wigans manage to win against St. Helens in the semi-final clash of the Engage Super League, the final will be staged between the same two teams as the Challenge Cup final’s.
While speaking about his team’s overall performance, McDermott added that the win cannot be entirely credited to Kevin for his last minute penalty kick. He added,
“It was how we came back and dealt with some adversity. Crucially Kevin got the kick but people did a lot of good things out there."
Leeds’ win was definitely not a one man show and the rest of the squad worked wonders on the field as they overtook a much stronger competitor to grab a seat at the Grand Final.
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