Super League: Brian McDermott praises Leeds for their defensive efforts

Last updated: 16th March 2013  

Super League: Brian McDermott praises Leeds for their defensive efforts

Brian McDermott: Praised Leeds for their defensive efforts against Wigan

I still believe we had a team that could come here and win but you have to commend Leeds. They can grind out wins, they've done it to us so many times.

Shaun Wane
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Leeds coach Brian McDermott described his side's 18-14 triumph over Wigan at Headingley as a "frustrating win".

The Rhinos showed there were no scars from their 32-8 loss to Huddersfield a week earlier by holding off the Warriors in front of the Sky cameras, Ryan Hall, Joel Moon and Jamie-Jones Buchanan all crossing for tries.

Yet while McDermott was happy with the defensive display from the hosts, as well as praising Wigan for their efforts without the ball, he felt there was still plenty of room for improvement in attack.

"It wasn't great last week. Huddersfield were very good and deserved to win. I think we showed a lot of resilience with a lot of grit," he said.

"I didn't think we were great with the ball. We created two clear-cut chances and bombed them. A frustrating win I'd say.

"Defensively I thought we were strong. Credit to Wigan as well, I thought it was a defensively tight game. Both teams defended each other pretty much out of the game.

"While we're really pleased and we've got a smile on our faces that we've won, we are frustrated as well because we wanted to perform a lot better."

Tomkins missing

Wigan counterpart Shaun Wane, who was in charge of the visitors despite the death of his father during the week, felt the absence of Sam Tomkins proved costly for his team.

The Warriors have now lost both games that the full-back has missed this season, with his latest absence being down to a dead leg suffered in training.

"The changes affected us," he said. "It was a late change with Sam and a few people played busted.

"I still believe we had a team that could come here and win but you have to commend Leeds. They can grind out wins, they've done it to us so many times.

"They were better than us in major parts of the game. We were not consistent in our attack. At times we lacked a bit of composure but we'll bounce back."

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