Rhinos deserved late win, claims McDermott

Defeat was heartbreaking for the determined Welsh team who had forged ahead for a second time through Michael Witt’s 74th minute drop goal and seemed set for a rare victory following a brave defensive performance.

However, Lauitiiti’s effort two minutes later rescued Leeds who had trailed 6-0 for much of the game leaving some observers to claim they had got out of jail.

McDermott – whose labouring side entertain his former club Bradford on Friday – took a different view of the encounter.

“To use a term like we got out jail refers that we had things go our way which we didn’t deserve, but I can’t think of too many of them,” he said.

“They had a hell of a lot of sets (of six) on our try line and took a lot of juice out of us.

“Once we resisted them, we 100 per cent deserved the victory.

“It was a good old fashioned bash-each-other game of rugby league.

“You have to give a hell of a lot of credit to the Crusaders.

“I kept the players on the field to say ‘Don’t listen to anyone who says we got away with that one’.”

But Crusaders chief Iestyn Harris – the former Leeds captain – believed his side proved their Super League credentials and remains confident they will start rising up the table.

“It is extremely frustrating,” he said.

“I thought attitude and desire-wise that was our best performance of the year.

“I thought they all showed that the Crusaders are ready to play for each other and I think we were desperately unlucky not to come away with the two points convincingly.”

Referee Richard Silverwood incurred the wrath of some Crusaders fans for a series of crucial penalty calls.

But ex-Great Britain star Harris added: “I’ve just been in the changing room, looked them all in the eyes and congratulated them on a good performance.

“I thought they were outstanding but now it’s about improving for next week.

“There were a few things out of our control which didn’t help us but it’s about making sure what we can do and what we can change to get these results.

“We need to keep improving as a group. Both sides were prepared to roll their sleeves up and rip into each other physically.

“I don’t think the two sides were the problem to be honest.”