Leeds Rhinos have been seen as entertainers under Rohan Smith.
For a while, when the Rhinos won under Smith you could guarantee it would be in some style such as against Warrington, Hull FC and Wigan but their last three wins have shown something different.
The Rhinos have demonstrated a real character to win the last three games. First they clawed back from 30-6 down despite having 12 men to beat Catalans, then they held on against an exhilarating Salford side at Headingley before a battling win over play-off rivals Hull KR last week.
Leeds were able to win despite losing three players to injury, suffering from a sin bin and trailing 14-6 early on in the game and afterwards coach Rohan Smith described it as a “brave” win.
“It was a brave performance,” Smith said, “We lost a few early in the week due to that stuff and we lost two forwards early in the game which makes it a real challenge and losing another as the game dug in.
“Everyone dug in and we found a way again. I thought we were pretty calm under all the chaos.”
He also went on to dismiss the notion that Leeds started badly despite what the scoreboard said as he looked to other indicators: “I didn’t think we started that badly, the scoreboard probably didn’t say so but I thought we still had decent control.
“That won’t be the last try Matt Parcell scores from a dummy, he’s made a career on that. I think we defended our line well. There were a couple of kicks which were particularly hard to defend and they scored and I know they all count as points but I don’t think we were playing that badly and we felt like if we maintained a level of possession we’d be able to trouble them.”