Tony Smith has no complaints with the result of Engage Super League semi-final
Warrington Wolves coach, Tony Smith has no objections over the result of the Friday night’s Engage Super League qualifying semi-final clash at the Halliwell Jones Stadium against Leeds Rhinos.
Rhinos have booked themselves a spot for the Grand final showdown at Old Trafford, with their 26-24 win against the Wolves.
The Warrington were topping the league charts and were obvious favourites for the last night’s clash. Leeds had been struggling throughout the current season, with their constant drop within the League ladder, which had been a reason of concern for their
head coach, Brian McDermott.
However, in the absence of bright picture ahead of them, Leeds’ skipper, Kevin Sinfield did not lose faith in his team and believed that if his side has the potential to glide through the obviously stronger side of the clash.
According to their skipper’s game plan, Leeds pounced at every opportunity gifted to his side by the opponents of the clash, since the beginning. Rhinos had put themselves in lead since the very start of the game. A Try was scored in by Carl Ablett within
the initial five minutes of the clash, which was successfully converted by Sinfield.
The match was a tight tussle, with both sides scoring four tries each. At the end of the regular time, the score break-up was 24-24. This led to the extra-time penalty kick-out, in which Sinfield booted the match-winning kick of the clash. This confirmed
Rhinos’ fourth appearance to the Grand Final berth in five seasons.
Rhinos will clash against either St. Helens or Wigan Warriors, on next Saturday, at Old Trafford. With this win bagged by Leeds, Wolves’ Grand Final dream had been crushed.
While reflecting his views on his side’s loss in the semi-final, Wolves’ coach Smith said, “I haven't watched the replay. I don't want to go into that. We weren't sharp enough to get away like we normally do. We did some good things to get out to those leads
but we needed to be the next to score and we didn't manage to do that. We will learn some lessons from that, bitter and hard lessons, but we needed to be better. I thought both teams were inviting the other to take a hold of the game and neither did. We'll
rue a few chances that we put down and we'll rue a few defensive lapses.”
Wolves’ coach believes that the clash should be taken as a learning experience by the players. He also identified that weak defence by his side created opportunities for the opponents, who utilised them all perfectly.
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