Leeds coach explains why Tom Holroyd was a late withdrawal at Magic

Leeds prop Tom Holroyd was initially named in Rohan Smith’s starting line-up at Magic Weekend but had to pull out of the game in the warm-up.

The 22-year-old, who has been in fine form for the Rhinos this season, was forced to withdraw in the warm-up with a lower leg injury.

Holroyd’s withdrawal saw Smith shuffle his team around, with towering prop Sam Walters coming in to start and 18th man Liam Tindall coming on the bench.

The depleted went down to a 26-24 defeat to Castleford at St James’ Park, with former England international Gareth Widdop putting in a man of the match performance for the Tigers.

Asked about Holroyd after the game, Smith said: “He’s got a lower leg issue and just wasn’t quite right.

“It’s one of those, they sometimes happen from time to time and when you’ve got plenty out, sometimes that’s the time when they happen.

“I’m not going to put it down to who wasn’t playing today. Sometimes the result can be influenced by who plays and who doesn’t but the performance wasn’t of a standard tonight and I haven’t said that very often but so the performance wasn’t there so I’m not going to account that for who wasn’t playing.”

The Rhinos were already down on numbers heading into their Magic clash against Castleford, with Morgan Gannon, Harry Newman, Aidan Sezer, Zane Tetevano, David Fusitu’a and Sam Lisone sidelined with injury.

Rohan Smith: Our execution was a long way off

Speaking in his post-match press conference after the game, Smith said the better team won whilst giving Castleford praise for their display.

He added: “Disjointed defence against their shift plays wasn’t anywhere near the standard.

“Offensively, we just didn’t take care of the ball – not just at the back end, the respect for possession wasn’t there.

“We’ve been up for it a lot lately but today our execution was just a long way off.

“Overall, I thought it was a very slow game but their shift plays had some energy to it but we didn’t have the usual level of connectiveness, discipline and trust. They created more opportunities than we would’ve liked to provide.”

Leeds will aim to bounce back when they travel to Wakefield next Sunday afternoon.

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