Leeds v Hull KR: Rhinos survival is not a foregone conclusion, claims old boy Chris Clarkson

MOST people think rejuvenated Leeds Rhinos will ease to Super League safety but Hull KR captain Chris Clarkson intends on punishing the champions for 'complacency' in their title defence.
England winger Ryan Hall has overcome his injuries and is ready to take his place in a near full-strength Leeds side tonight (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).England winger Ryan Hall has overcome his injuries and is ready to take his place in a near full-strength Leeds side tonight (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).
England winger Ryan Hall has overcome his injuries and is ready to take his place in a near full-strength Leeds side tonight (Picture: Bruce Rollinson).

After a dire campaign, Leeds are consigned to the Qualifiers with their top-flight rivals from East Yorkshire and they meet at Headingley this evening.

Having won just three of their first 19 games this term to leave them rooted to bottom for much of the year, revived Rhinos have prospered in six of their last seven.

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Indeed, the stellar side Brian McDermott fielded in their Qualifiers opener at Featherstone last Saturday was missing just one regular – Stevie Ward – and the subsequent performance in a 62-6 annihilation left many purring it looked more like a team storming to Old Trafford rather than battling the risk of relegation.

“On paper, you’d think they’d be challenging for top honors but they’re not,” said Clarkson, the Rovers back-row who won the 2011 Grand Final with home-town Leeds before leaving at the end of last season.

“They’re in a position they’re not used to; we need to get stuck into them and make them pay for that.

“They are looking a bit like their old selves; they have some numbers back and have hit some form these past three or four weeks.

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“It’s not an easy task but we’re going there with confidence. They are still beatable; we’ve watched video on them and we know what to do to get the win there.”

The 26-year-old feels Leeds did take their eye off the ball following last season’s treble heroics, achieved while he was on a season-long loan at Widnes Vikings.

Asked if there had been complacency, Clarkson replied: “Possibly, yes. Not having their training facilities either (due to flooding) meant they probably could not do what they wanted to do.

“But maybe there was some complacency resting on what they’d done last year when it showed they needed to improve again.”

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Rovers, meanwhile, are au fait with the Qualifiers, having won all seven games last year to preserve their Super League status.

It is widely recognised this time will be much harder given the calibre of those involved but they started with a morale-boosting 58-18 rout of Batley Bulldogs on Sunday.

“It was good to put some points on a team as we’d not really done that much this year,” said Clarkson, who feels he has “grown up a lot” since unexpectedly taking the captaincy for much of the campaign due to Terry Campese’s injury issues.

“It was good for confidence and good for people to be playing with each other again especially after a week off.

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“We’ve got a bit of a step-up now, though, with a Super League opponent.

“We know it’s massively important to quickly get one of those scalps.

“You’d expect to beat Championship teams – obviously it’s not a given but you’d expect to – and then you have to beat one Super League team at least as well.

“Leeds on Friday is something I think we can do.”

They will take further confidence from the fact they won at Headingley in April although this Leeds side is far stronger.

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Ryan Hall, the England winger, is back in their ranks after a frustrating injury-plagued campaign and said: “We left it a little bit too late (to get into the Super 8s), but now we need to keep going in this form.

“We have found a formula that works for us and we need to continue with it.

“But Hull KR had a good win against Batley last week. They know how to score points and the last time we played them last month it was a tight game; we had to work right until the end to get the game and we only won (24-20) by four points.

“They won every game last year so they know what they need to do and we are prepared for a very good Hull KR team.”