Capital trip will not distract Rhinos ahead of Cup final

Next weekend’s Super League visit to lowly Harlequins is likely to be played out in front of around three thousand supporters, a little different to the following Saturday’s date in London with Wigan Warriors.

Then, there will be around 75,000 fans packing out Wembley as Leeds bid to defeat the favourites and put to rest last year’s disappointment against Warrington when they finished runners-up.

But scrum-half Burrow, whose brace in Friday night’s 56-0 destruction of Castleford Tigers helped see the West Yorkshire club record a fifth successive win, said: “Obviously, Wembley is a big thing and people say players might save themselves for that. But I don’t think it’s like that at all. Certainly, nobody here thinks like that; the focus is on each game as it comes. We’ve played Harlequins twice and they have been a real tough opponent each time so we’re fully aware of what they can do.

“The Cas’ performance was a big improvement on last week, which we set out to achieve, and we need to do the same at Quins.

“Then obviously it’s the big one where we need to perform.”

Given the Leeds squad is currently almost at full strength, with only Brett Delaney absent against Castleford, players also realise they must perform to their best ability to earn a cherished jersey at Wembley.

Ex-Great Britain international Burrow himself had to make do with a place on the bench against hometown Castleford when the Rhinos produced their most dominant display of the year.

The 10-try affair was a far cry from the narrow 10-8 victory over the same opponents in the semi-final five days earlier and another sign that Leeds, after some indifferent form throughout much of the year, are now finding it when it matters most.

They have also kept both Hull FC and Castleford pointless in successive home Super League games and Burrow said: “The focus at half-time was to keep them scoreless. We did that and the attack took care of itself. We are getting more momentum going but we’re not getting carried away.”

Meanwhile, Castleford stand-off Rangi Chase is due to arrive back in England today with a suspended prison sentence hanging over him. The New Zealander, 25, was given a suspended two-year jail term at a Gold Coast court in Australia for his part in a pub brawl in 2008 that left a man with a fractured jaw.

Crown prosecutor Marie Arace asked for three years’ actual jail time but Judge Katherine McGinness cited Chase’s good work in the English community and his position as a role model as reasons for her verdict. She accepted the defence’s assertion that Chase was “brought up in circumstances of extreme poverty and violence” and applauded him for turning his life around after arriving on the Gold Coast as a teenager.