Interim-coach Leon Crick reflects on Leeds Rhinos' narrow loss to York Valkyrie in their Women's Super League semi-final.
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00:00I mean, it was a fantastic effort, a great effort for the women's game,
00:07but those triplicate efforts just kicked off, didn't they?
00:10Yeah, I said that to them when we just got round each other then,
00:12I think you couldn't fault the effort tonight,
00:15I think they all stuck at it,
00:17it's probably easier at 12-0 to kind of crumble a little bit,
00:20not give up, but kind of just struggle to find the answers,
00:24but they stuck at it and I think they only got better and better
00:27as the last sort of 20 minutes went on,
00:29but 60 minutes where we didn't really challenge York enough
00:32to be able to get into the game,
00:33and it was just a little bit too late when we started doing it.
00:35Yeah, you were on the back foot throughout the first half,
00:39weren't you? That must have taken a lot of pressure off the team as well.
00:41Yeah, it would have done.
00:43We said at half-time we kind of did too much defending,
00:47it just felt like we spent the first 40 minutes in our half,
00:50I think we got out into their 20-0 once, twice,
00:53so we didn't get an opportunity to challenge York at all,
00:56so I think that's something we've got to kind of take on the chin,
00:59that's probably off the back of we could have run a little bit harder,
01:02I think we could have tackled a bit harder
01:04and dominated the rucks, which we did do,
01:06so yeah, we kind of were almost enemies in that first half
01:09and gave ourselves too much to do.
01:10What spurred you really to get so close in that last 15 minutes?
01:14Yeah, you could just tell they were all up for it,
01:17ultimately they just couldn't quite get over the line,
01:20obviously two tries apiece in a game like that,
01:23and then a near-on-impossible kick from a touchline at the end,
01:26which obviously made it hard.
01:28Just on that try at the end,
01:30we thought there was maybe a pull-back on the winger,
01:35I suppose if it had been a penalty try,
01:37it would have been in front of the fence, wouldn't it?
01:40You'll have to check me out, Rosie,
01:42I don't think so because it wasn't in the act of scoring,
01:44so I think if Evie would have been in the act of scoring,
01:47we'd have got an eight-point try,
01:48but I don't think she was, to be fair,
01:51I think they made the right call on that one.
01:53How's Bella tagged you, obviously?
01:55It's a blow losing one of your own players,
01:57it's only ten minutes, isn't it?
01:58Yeah, she went off a lot earlier than we would have hoped,
02:01but she kind of got herself back right,
02:03I thought she was brilliant when she went back on.
02:06Every message we gave her at half-time in terms of running harder
02:09and turning up for your mates,
02:10Bella was doing that in the second half,
02:13I thought she was brilliant.
02:14And when the dust settles on this,
02:16will you look back on it as a positive campaign?
02:18It's been a lot of disruption with injuries and people leaving and everything,
02:21but to get second in the table,
02:24got to Wembley,
02:25it's been another decent year, hasn't it?
02:28Yeah, it's been a decent year,
02:32but I think we set a standard higher than that.
02:34We got to Wembley, we didn't really perform then,
02:36and we've got to a semi-final and we've kind of done the same,
02:38but we've got a lot of young players
02:41that will just be better for experiencing nights like this,
02:46and the future's really bright.
02:48We've got a lot of our senior players that still look to go around again,
02:51and obviously you see Ebony and the two Rubies,
02:54and there's plenty more coming through,
02:55so they'll definitely be better for it.
02:57Ebony was very good today, wasn't she?
02:59Yeah, I thought she was outstanding at the back,
03:02she got a lot thrown at her in terms of fielding kicks,
03:04and she returned well, she carried hard,
03:06I thought she was brilliant.
03:08What's the difference, would you say, between the two sides this afternoon?
03:13They just got going quicker than we did, I think.
03:17We didn't get going for the entire first half,
03:20so we kind of didn't give ourselves an opportunity
03:22to score any tries early on,
03:24or get any points on the board.
03:26So, yeah, they just got going quicker than us,
03:28and like I said, I think you've got to take it on the chin,
03:30they probably dominated the rook in terms of running hard,
03:33tackling hard, and you're not going to win a game if that's happening.
03:36And their defence was just superb,
03:38was it in terms of keeping you paid back throughout the full 80 minutes?
03:41Yeah, their defence was good, I don't think we challenged it enough,
03:45we certainly didn't throw at them what I think we're capable of doing,
03:49so yeah, they defended well, they dealt with what we threw at them,
03:52but I don't think what we threw at them was good enough either.
03:55Wonderful, and then to go into next season,
03:57and as you say, are the young players learning more from this experience?
04:00Yeah, they'll learn loads from being around it,
04:04and hopefully, I mean it'll hurt a little bit now,
04:07but hopefully they'll come back stronger for it,
04:09because ultimately when you lose, you kind of want to fix things up,
04:12get better, and not lose again, don't you?
04:15So they'll only be better for what's happened tonight,
04:18they won't feel like it now, but they will do well.
04:20Just a word on Hannah Butcher, 100 appearances for the club,
04:22how important has she been to you as a captain in these last few weeks?
04:25She's been class, because everything you ask of the team,
04:29Hannah does it without asking anyway,
04:32but we said before the game and we had a bit of a presentation for her,
04:35since she came to trial seven years ago,
04:38she's literally just been one of the best people to have around the squad.
04:41She works so hard in training, in games,
04:44all the players all look up to her, and she's brilliant to have around.