Leeds forward James Bentley ruled out of Challenge Cup tie

Leeds have been dealt a blow to forward James Bentley, who has been ruled out of next week’s Challenge Cup tie against Wigan.

The Ireland international left the action midway through the first half of their 40-18 win over Wigan in Super League on Friday night following a collision in a tackle with Wigan winger Abbas Miski.

Bentley failed a head injury assessment, therefore not returning to the action. As a result, he will be unavailable for next Saturday’s Challenge Cup sixth round tie against Wigan at Headingley due to the concussion protocol.

“He is fine,” said Leeds coach Rohan Smith when asked about James Bentley after the game.

“He was fine by half-time in regards to how he was feeling but he wasn’t a chance to pass the HIA based on how he went down but he is feeling good which is key.”

Rohan Smith hails ‘resilience and belief’ of Rhinos after stunning comeback

The Rhinos trailed 14-0 after half an hour before producing a stunning second half comeback to claim a 40-18 victory at the DW Stadium on Friday night.

Leeds scored 34 points in the second half with 12 men after forward Zane Tetevano was sent off in the first half for a high and late hit on Wigan half-back Harry Smith.

Speaking after the game, Smith said: “There’s a lot of resilience and belief in the room.

“Things are never that good and never that bad – that’s how I try to be. I think the way they held in there when things were particularly clunky for a passage in the first half that the score was still not that bad. It gave us a chance to be able to re-group and turn that around.

“I’d say it was a collective team performance. Some blokes were clunky first half but then really found a strong performance in the second half which shows a lot of character.

“It’s a brave thing what rugby league players do to put themselves out like that and when you’re failing at it a bit, it’s even braver to bounce back and find it in you to compete and test a team as good as Wigan on their patch.

“It’s not very often things like that happen tonight but that’s the beauty of sport, there’s always a surprise around the corner.

“I think all of us can go to a Super League game at the moment and most games could go either way which is a good state for our competition to be in.”

The Rhinos will face the Warriors again next Saturday in the Challenge Cup sixth round, 2:30pm kick-off.

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