25 May 2023

Reserves kick off week of Saints clashes this Thursday

In a week that sees the Rhinos' Men and Women's teams both play St Helens, Leeds Rhinos Reserves get the action underway against the Red Vee on Thursday night at Stanningley, kick off 7pm.

Both Leeds and St Helens are unbeaten so far in the Reserves competition, with Derek Hardman's side sitting top of the table with five wins from five matches. The Rhinos sit behind in seventh spot having played four games - their recent fixture against Wigan Warriors was abandoned due to injury. Before that though, Tony Smith's side had a convincing run of matches that saw them accrue 132 points and 25 tries against Bradford, Castleford and Hull FC, thanks to the efforts of young first team talent Jack Sinfield and Luis Roberts, who have led the way with nine tries between them this season. In contrast to last year, almost all players involved in this year's Reserves fixtures have been from the Rhinos club, whether they are part of the first team, Under-18s Academy or part-time Reserves. Only Keighley's Keenan Dyer-Dixon has come into the fold from an external club.

Watch the most recent Reserves clash here:

Saints come into this week's fixture with their perfect record still in tact. Last time out, they downed Salford 44-22 to secure their largest win since the start of April when Hardman's side backed up a 72-4 win over Newcastle by posting 50 points on last year's Reserves Grand Finalists Wakefield.

Unlike Leeds, the Red Vee had to overcome tougher opposition in Bradford and Castleford as the Tigers in particular gave minutes to first-team players out of contention for Andy Last's Super League squad that week. For Saints, this week's clash with the Rhinos is the first of four tough fixtures coming up across June and July as they are slated to play Hull FC, Warrington and rivals Wigan at the start of summer.

*Team news to be announced shortly.