Leeds Rhinos pay big price for Hull FC win with three injury concerns
Sunday 21 June 2015 23:40, UK
Leeds moved back to the top of the Super League standings with a win over Hull FC, but may have paid heavily for it.
Influential scrum-half Danny McGuire, yellow carded in the 32-20 victory, is suspected to have suffered a broken ankle, while Liam Sutcliffe picked up a knee injury and Adam Cuthbertson may have sustained a torn calf muscle.
The Rhinos will have McGuire’s old half-back partner Rob Burrow available for Friday’s Challenge Cup match against the same opposition, but that has not eased head coach Brian McDermott’s concern regarding the McGuire injury.
"He could have broken his ankle by the look of it," McDermott said. "He's not walking – he can't even put it on the ground. It's a bad one.
"He's been single-handedly our best player all year and I'm not sure how we get over his loss."
McGuire was shown a yellow card by referee Robert Hicks for kicking out at his opposite number Marc Sneyd in a tackle ten minutes from the end. Sneyd was shown a yellow card for holding McGuire down after a tackle, prompting McDermott to question the ruling from the officials.
"I'm that angry that our game can get it confused to such a level," McDermott said.
"The kid makes a break and has his ankle twisted – even the referee signalled that. And in desperation to not have his ankle broken, he kicks out to get the bloke off his ankle and he gets sin-binned for it.
"It worries me that the game has got that wrong."
It was a difficult victory for Leeds, who were made to wait until the dying minutes before securing the points.
"It was a tough win," McDermott said. "Hull are a good team and they have been on a bit of a roll. They play a lot better than their league position suggests. We prepared for a good team and got challenged a lot.
"They are going to be a very good team at their place next week. They're going to be full of enthusiasm and they're going to have a huge reaction I'd imagine."
Leeds were not the only side to suffer injuries, with Hull second rower Mark Minichiello likely to be ruled out of the cup tie with a calf injury.
"It's not looking good," said Hull coach Lee Radford. "Mark has been phenomenal this season for us – along with Zeb Taia (Catalans Dragons), I'd rank him right up there with the best two second rowers in the comp this time around. So if he's not to play on Friday, that would be a loss for us."
Radford refused to complain about the yellow shown to Sneyd but said he believes the injury to McGuire was accidental.
"It's obvious something's happened because I think he's sustained a serious injury," Radford said. "It was definitely a sin-binning for holding down.
"But if it was a crocodile roll, I don't think he's got that in his nature so if he's done it, it's probably done by accident."
Hull scored four tries of their own on Sunday, and will take plenty of positives away from the encounter as they look to take on the self-same Leeds side on Friday.
"Our effort and commitment for each other was never in question," Radford said. "Our skill and execution is just not giving us a chance to win games.
"We've got to be more clinical, that's the frustration. We're really having a dig but we've got to be better with the ball."
