B16 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY,MARCH6,2020
The Leeds Rhinos ran in 11 tries
Thursday, hammering the Toron-
to Wolfpack 66-12 in handing the
transatlantic rugby league team
its sixth straight defeat in Super
League play.
The lopsided loss matched the
most points the Wolfpack has ev-
er conceded. The team was beaten
66-10 by Warrington in Challenge
Cup play in May, 2018.
Toronto (0-6-0) was coming off
a 32-0 loss at the hands of defend-
ing champion St. Helens that
marked the first time the Wolf-
pack had ever been blanked.
The offence let Toronto down
last week.
This time it was the defence
that was cut open repeatedly with
Leeds leading 36-6 at halftime.
The Rhinos outgained the Wolf-
pack 881 metres to 426 in the first
half with Toronto missing 19 tack-
les.
The Wolfpack’s defence stiff-
ened in the second half, but the
damage was done.
The game at Emerald Headin-
gley Stadium was Toronto coach
Brian McDermott’s first against
his former club.
Coming off a 36-0 win over War-
rington, Leeds (4-1-1) extended its
win streak to four games and
moved atop the Super League ta-
ble – at least temporarily with
more games to come this week.
Captain Josh McCrone and Jack
Wells scored tries for Toronto. Ga-
reth O’Brien booted two conver-
sions. McCrone was sent to the sin
bin in the 79th minute for a pro-
fessional foul as Leeds pressed for
its 11th try.
Robert Lui and Luke Gale
scored two tries apiece and Brad
Dwyer, Richie Myler, Ash Handley,
Cameron Smith, Mikolaj Oledzki,
Adam Cuthbertson and Konrad
Hurrell added singles for Leeds.
Rhyse Martin kicked 11
conversions.
McDermott, who took over
Leeds in 2011, was fired in July,
2018, after a 162-97-6 run as coach
that saw the Rhinos win four
Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups,
a League Leaders’ Shield and a
World Club Challenge.
At the time of his firing, howev-
er, injury-ravaged Leeds had lost
seven straight in Super League
play and nine of 12 matches in all
competitions. He signed with To-
ronto after the Wolfpack failed to
win promotion in 2018.
McDermott did not pull punch-
es after the Leeds match, calling
the performance “as bad as it
gets.” But he said teams have to
endure “these really ugly days.”
“That’s what environments are
built upon – the ugly bits. As well
as the good bits,” he said. “You’ve
got to hold your nerve through
those really really bad moments,
which today is.”
Leeds struck early, with Dwyer
bulling his way through two tack-
les in the fourth minute after a
Wolfpack penalty for a high tack-
le. Toronto winger Matty Russell
flew over in the corner three min-
utes later, but his foot was judged
to be in touch thanks to a flying
tackle by Harry Newman.
Myler made the Wolfpack pay
in the eighth minute, completing
a flowing move that saw a line-
break by Martin and behind-the-
back-pass by Gale that sliced open
Toronto’s defence for a 12-0 lead.
McCrone put Toronto on the
board in the 16th minute, touch-
ing down a Tony Gigot grubber
kick that Leeds failed to handle.
But the Wolfpack was cut open
again in the 21st minute with Gale,
marking his 300th career appear-
ance, making an inside run after
the Wolfpack yielded more
metres to a penalty.
Leeds continued to find holes
in Toronto’s offence with Lui in
the 27th, offering a dummy and
then running in untouched. Lui
scored again in the 33rd as Leeds
probed the Toronto defence until
it found an opening.THECANADIANPRESSLeedsRhinoshand Wolfpackasixthstraightloss
Thelopsideddefeat–
66-12–matchedthe
mostpointsToronto
haseverconceded
LEEDS,ENGLAND
TheRhinos’AlexMellorattemptstotackletheTorontoWolfpack’sTonyGigotduringtheirSuperLeaguematch
inLeedsonThursday.TheRhinosextendedtheirwinstreaktofourgames.GEORGEWOOD/GETTYIMAGES| REPORTONBUSINESS