'Sort of win you enjoy': Brad Arthur delighted to see Leeds Rhinos tough it out at Salford

Any questions about the resolve of this Leeds squad that may have arisen on the back of their underwhelming 14-12 loss to Wakefield Trinity were emphatically put to rest inside a sunny Salford Community Stadium as the visitors defied injury woes and an early deficit to run out convincing winners.

On an occasion when Rhinos suffered first-half injuries to three key starters, Arthur was impressed by his team’s spirit highlighting that: “It was a tough win, the sort you really enjoy and you are proud of as a coach. Anything that could have gone wrong positionally, did.

“They’re a good football side and they tested us. It was a big improvement from last week when we chased the scoreboard, and we didn’t back ourselves for what we needed to do for 80 minutes.”

After falling behind inside the opening two minutes in Greater Manchester, Leeds produced a sensational turnaround scoring 32 unanswered points to condemn Paul Rowley’s Red Devils to defeat - playing for the first time this season at full strength having chosen to field a reserve team in their record-breaking 82-0 drubbing by St Helens in round one. It was a testament to the team’s resilience that Leeds’ grew in control as the game went on, seamlessly adapting to injury-enforced tactical tweaks.

Scrum-half Matt Fawley spent part of the first period having eight stitches put in his hand before Leeds were forced to negotiate the second-half without loose forward Cameron Smith or concussed stand-off Brodie Croft - who was stretchered off following a head collision with Jack Ormondroyd.

Arthur explained the adjustments he made to regain balance: “[Morgan] Gannon went from the left to the right, to the middle - all over the joint. Keenan [Palasia] had to play 65 minutes straight, as a middle-forward, a starting front-rower. That was a big effort and we had only planned to play Jarrod [O’Connor] for 20 minutes in his first game back from injury.”

Salford made a dream start to life under new ownership when Marc Sneyd’s perfectly weighted kick earned the hosts a 40/20, and Rowley’s men turned their early territory into a lead as captain Kallum Watkins forced his way over the line with Leeds yet to have possession.

After Sneyd converted his kick, Leeds muscled their way into the ascendancy and began to probe for a quickfire response. Rhinos would have to wait until the 18th minute for winger Riley Lumb to latch onto the end of Connors’ grubber-kick to score in the corner.

Leeds took the lead through a mixture of good fortune and persistence, as Gannon surged onto Connor’s blocked kick before powering forward past Watkins and Ormondroyd to touch down at full stretch.

Six minutes before the break, with Salford beginning to show signs of weariness, Rhinos manufactured an overload and quick hands from Hanley opened the space for Lund to score his second.

Joe Shorrocks was sin-binned for a tackle on Croft, before the former Salford player’s clash of heads with Ormondroyd ended his involvement. Dazzling footwork from Handley allowed him to control, gather and score Leeds’ fourth before James Bentley intercepted a Shorrocks’ slack pass to add a fifth.

Veteran winger Ryan Hall scored the first Super League try of his second spell at Leeds late on.