Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith addresses momentum issue after round one horror show

The Rhinos arrived at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on the opening night with fresh memories of their run to last year's Super League Grand Final but left with their tail between their legs.

Smith's men were blown away by the rejuvenated Wolves inside the opening 40 minutes, conceding five tries and showing little going the other way in attack.

Leeds' forwards had no answer to a strong Warrington pack led superbly by Australian new boy Paul Vaughan.

When asked about teams rolling through the middle of his side, Smith said: "I think we read a lot into that.

"There were plenty of times last year where we won games and teams struggled to score tries against us even though they were making metres.

"It was really the execution of the opposition big play hand or kick that was key.

"The momentum of going backwards isn't something we're striving for but you've got to be able to tolerate it at some point."

Leeds barely played the ball inside Warrington territory in the first half and although they improved marginally after the interval, the game was gone.

After seeing his team go down 42-10 in the season opener, Smith has stressed the importance of a strong start when Hull FC visit Headingley next Friday.

"We just couldn't get anything going back the other way," he added.

"The opposition attack doesn't have as much energy if you're attacking against them.

"We just couldn't get the ball back off them and partly that was because we weren't defending well enough to earn the ball back.

"It's the ebb and flow and the complementary nature of attack and defence helping each other.

"When we got a bit of that going end to end, we looked fine. Getting that bit first is the focus, for sure.”