Penalty was right call for Rhinos, says Myler

HALF-BACK Richie Myler says the decision to award Leeds Rhinos what proved to be a match-winning penalty against Salford Red Devils was correct.
Richie Myler in action.Richie Myler in action.
Richie Myler in action.

Rhinos snatched a priceless 18-16 success in the Betfred Qualifiers after Salford were penalised for a swinging arm on Myler in the final minute and Liam Sutcliffe landed the resulting goal.

A win at Halifax on Sunday should be enough to keep Rhinos in Super League.

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In his post-match press conference angry Salford coach Ian Watson claimed his team had been “robbed”. He felt Salford should have received a penalty near Leeds’s line moments earlier and alleged referee James Child had “decided the game” with his late decisions.

Myler feinted to take a drop goal, but opted to run instead, was tackled and the ball came out.

He said: “James said he went for a swinging arm, that’s why he gave the penalty. It was a swinging arm so we will take that and move on.”

It was Rhinos’ second win in six days and their first against a top-flight side other than Widnes Vikings since the end of April.

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“The boys dug deep and that’s what we’ve tried to instill in the last two months or so,” Myler said.

“It’s team first and working hard for the team.

“If we don’t take short cuts and we work hard for one another then we come out on the right end of those results.

“I reckon maybe eight weeks ago we probably would have lost that, but we showed a bit more about us and hard work does pay off.

“People were working hard for each other and I’m sure that’s going to be the philosophy all pre-season and into next year.

“There’s still parts and areas of our game we’re not quite getting right, but we’ve taken massive steps forward, having more of a defensive mindset and working hard for one another.”