McDermott excited by semi-final outing
LEEDS coach Brian McDermott admits he is getting excited at the prospect of another Ladbrokes Challenge Cup final after watching his side secure their place in the last four of the competition.
The Rhinos ran out comfortable 58-0 winners against Championship side Featherstone to put themselves 80 minutes away from reaching their sixth final appearance in eight seasons.
McDermott has won the knockout competition on two occasions as Leeds boss and wants his side to experience the furore that surrounds the showpiece at Wembley once more.
He said: “I don’t mind saying it is exciting. I’m pleased for the players. We are on a journey. We are 80 minutes from Wembley so it’s good.
“Each year, it is a year on its own. It’s just a great build-up, it’s a great place to be and the whole week building up to it and the memories with it. It is something that you don’t need motivation for them (the players).”
Leeds raced into an 18-0 lead after 15 minutes but struggled to break down the Rovers defence until Ash Handley, who has played seven times for the Featherstone whilst on dual-registration, scored a minute before half-time, which McDermott believes was the most crucial score of the match.
“It was a good workout for 40 minutes, if we had gone 18-0 ahead (at half-time), it would have made us a bit more nervous. We didn’t get away from them until they got a sin-bin really.
“Credit to Featherstone, I don’t mean that in a condescending way, they stayed with the pace of the game. We scored some really good tries but to be fair we were against a tired defence.
“It looked like a Super League game, it was like a Super League tempo and I thought it was a fast game in the first half.”
McDermott praised his side’s defensive efforts in the last play of the game as Leeds kept out John Davies from crossing the whitewash on the final buzzer to keep their local rivals scoreless.
“It is hard to instil,” he added. “It is a hard thing to get into your team but when it’s in there, they pride themselves on it. It was great to watch, it was a great moment.
“If Featherstone scored it wouldn’t have meant anything but the fact we stayed and kept them out – it does mean something to us.”
Rovers head coach Jon Sharp, the former Giants head coach, believes that despite being unable to breach the Rhinos defence during the heavy defeat, he is proud of his players’ performances and feels they will learn from playing higher league opposition.
He said: “It’s mixed emotions really. A bit of frustration because we know we can play better but at the moment I am really pleased for the attitude of the players. “It’s absolutely invaluable. “The Middle 8s last year was really good for us and that has had a good influence on how we played this year - being in the top four all year has certainly been a by-product of being in the Middle 8 games against really good Super League teams and I think today will also help.”