YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on Leeds Rhinos' embarrassing 50-0 home loss to Wigan Warriors.
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00:00 Well, there are good days, there are bad days and then there are days like this one when
00:05 Leeds have been beaten 50 points to nil at home by Wigan Warriors in what was really
00:12 an abject humiliation. The gulf in class between the two sides was quite startling. Clubs like
00:18 Leeds Rhinos shouldn't be losing 50-0 to anybody and particularly not at Headingley. You could
00:25 point out the fact that Leeds were missing quite a number of players through injury.
00:31 They don't have a spine at the moment. The 1, 6, 7 and 9 from the start of the season
00:37 weren't playing. They had a 19-year-old second rower at stand-off, an 18-year-old rookie
00:44 has come half but it's still no excuse. They should be better than that. 15 points to nil,
00:49 as I say, totally unacceptable. There were some boos at the end of the game and chants
00:56 from 'you're not fit to wear the shirt' from a section of fans. I think that's a little
00:59 bit harsh on the team who have certainly tried very hard this season and have been very competitive
01:06 all the way through but today the dam broke and the gulf in class between Wigan and Leeds
01:13 was quite worrying. The fact is Leeds aren't going to qualify for the top six now. They
01:19 were grand finalists last year. They've declined quite significantly since then. There's a
01:24 huge amount of work to be done before next season if Leeds are to be competitive again.
01:31 This is a club that craves success. It's a team that needs to be reaching semi-finals
01:35 and finals and they're quite a long way short of that at the moment. There will be big changes
01:42 to the squad over the off-season but certainly the two signings that have been made, Matt
01:48 Froley and Lackey Miller, seem like good signings along with Mikel Gudemond from Catalan's
01:53 Dragons but more needs to be done. This sort of thing just can't continue. Heddingley should
02:01 be a fortress. Nobody should be coming here and winning 50-0. Leeds have got a lot of
02:06 soul-searching to do. In the immediate future they've got a trip to Catalan Dragons next
02:10 week. That's going to be incredibly tough as well but at the very minimum they need
02:14 a 100% improvement in performance.
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