Tony Smith was clearly disappointed after seeing his side lose in the last minute against Wigan but he has backed his side to stick together & come back stronger.
Tony Smith was clearly disappointed after seeing his side lose in the last minute against Wigan but he has backed his side to stick together & come back stronger. The Rhinos had fought back from 16-4 down to lead 18-16 going in to the closing stages. Clinton Toopi had a chance to extend the lead but knocked on as he went to ground the ball before Keith Senior threw an offload into touch with 90 seconds remaining in the game and the visitors made the most of their chance to scoring a winning try through Phil Bailey. Speaking after the game Tony Smith said, "I saw signs of fatigue out there from our players with people making decisions they would not normally make but that is Rugby League. "It is a short turn around however just like a Sunday to Friday turn around in the season, but backing up from a game of the intensity of last Thursday is always going to take it's toll. I accept that as a coach. Rugby League is not designed to be played in such short turn arounds at that intensity, eventually it will hurt you mentally or physically and I think that is what we saw out there. Unfortunately we just could not get home and get the points but all credit to Wigan, I thought they were good value for the win although I thought we could have hung on for the points." Smith refused to blame individuals for the defeat and said his team will stick together, he added, "We win and lose together as a team. We have got great team spirit within this group and they are all hurting together. We weren't happy with our first half performances and some people made some mistakes then so that could have come back to haunt us. We'll stick together and come back for the game at Warrington on Sunday."