Rohan Smith 'proud' of Leeds Rhinos effort with scoreline an unfair reflection

Leeds Rhinos head coach Rohan Smith felt the scoreline wasn't a fair reflection of his side's efforts after they were kept scoreless by Catalans Dragons. Steve McNamara's side prevailed 26-0 in Perpignan, keeping the Rhinos two points adrift of the play-offs.

In a scrappy game, Leeds rarely threatened to score while Catalans were the beneficiaries of the Rhinos' errors, with Tom Johnstone's try off a loose Jack Sinfield pass helping them open up a 14-0 lead after the break.

It was a frustrating evening for Leeds but despite that, Smith still found the positives from the performance, which came without a number of regulars who are absent through injury.

"I thought it was a really hard game," Smith told Sky Sports. "We lacked a bit of execution there, the score, I think there's been a bunch of games lately where the battle has been much harder than the scoreline has reflected but that's the nature of sport sometimes. It's hard to take but I'm really proud of the players' effort today. It was really hot and we were on the back foot for a chunk of that first-half, but I was very impressed with how we attacked the second half with the intent.

He added: "I thought we had one big moment there that turned the game with Johnstone running the length. Our last plays probably weren't good enough to apply enough pressure. But you know, we had a lot of young fellas out there having a good crack and I thought the team unity was strong today against a spirited Catalans team. They were very professional today, the opposition."