Rhinos refuse to be blown off course by Salford

The Rhinos, beaten finalists for the last two seasons, were level at 10-10 until Shaun Lunt went over from Danny McGuire’s pass nine minutes from time and captain Kevin Sinfield slotted his second conversion.

Leeds’s other tries came from Brent Webb and Ben Jones-Bishop with Lee Jewitt and Jodie Broughton replying for the Reds.

McDermott said: “It was very tough but that’s the Challenge Cup.

“Salford have not been in the form they would have liked in their last four games and there was always going to be a reaction to their defeat at Wakefield last week.

“The weather had a bearing and the wind was ridiculous.

“We invested a lot of energy against Catalan last week and there was a bit of a hangover from that.

“But I was as impressed with our mental strength as much as at any time since I have been at the club.

“The most impressive thing was we didn’t give away field position in the second half and we upped the ante.”

Leeds went into the clash having won all four of their cup ties against the Reds since 1964.

The Rhinos also had the psychological advantage of having thumped Salford 56-16 on their first visit to Barton in March, when Sinfield became the record points scorer in the club’s history.

Salford, who had lost six of their last eight games, were missing Australian prop Shannon McPherson and Kiwi Vinnie Anderson.

Leeds kept the side which beat Catalan with Kallum Watkins, Rob Burrow, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Weller Hauraki still sidelined.

Salford stunned Leeds by taking a shock eighth-minute lead after a storming run by Jodie Broughton against his old club.

Jewitt took Wayne Godwin’s pass to plough over from short range for his first try since scoring against Leeds last July, with Daniel Holdsworth booting the straightforward conversion.

The Rhinos recovered to pile the pressure on the Reds but squandered several chances.

Chris Clarkson was put through by Sinfield but tossed away a certain try by ignoring Webb in support.

Jones-Bishop went over but was recalled for a forward pass and then Zak Hardaker was denied a try from Danny McGuire’s kick by a desperate clearance from Luke Patten.

Carl Ablett then dropped the ball under pressure over the Reds’ line after slick handling by McGuire and Webb.

Salford were under the cosh with solid defence preventing Darrell Griffin barging over before the Reds’ line was finally breached four minutes before the break.

Lunt’s grubber kick caught Salford off-guard and Webb was the quickest to react with Sinfield landing the conversion to make it 6-6.

Salford lost Chris Nero early in the second half with an arm injury but Ashley Gibson summed up their spirit with sterling defence.

The Reds regained the lead after 51 minutes when Broughton sprinted on to Holdsworth’s well-placed kick for his fourth try of the season.

Holdsworth was just off-target with the touchline conversion but Leeds drew level 16 minutes from time.

Jamie Peacock did well to release the ball in a tackle and Sinfield’s kick was fumbled by Broughton for Jones-Bishop to score a scrambled try.

Sinfield missed the conversion to stop his side going ahead for the first time.

Salford’s relief was short-lived with McGuire’s dancing run enabling Lunt to go over after 71 minutes and, this time, Sinfield made no mistake to fire his side in front 16-10.

The Reds refused to concede defeat and Sean Gleeson went close but Leeds held on.

Salford coach Phil Veivers said: “We got ourselves in a winning position at 10-6 but then we stopped playing and lost our go-forward.

“Leeds had a lot of opportunities in the first half but we scrambled well.

“This was a match we could have won but it wasn’t to be,” he added.

Salford: Patten, Broughton, Gleeson, Moon, Gibson, Holdsworth, Smith, Sidlow, Godwin, Jewitt, Ashurst, Adamson, Wild. Substitutes: Howarth, Paleaaesina, James, Nero.

Leeds: Webb, Jones-Bishop, Ablett, Hardaker, Hall, Sinfield, McGuire, Leuluai, Lunt, Peacock, Clarkson, Delaney, Bailey. Substitutes: Moore, L. Smith, Kirke, Griffin.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).