Ian Watson – "They were too good and too quick"

The Red Devils top four hopes were brought to an end at Headingley as they fell to a 44-2 defeat against Leeds Rhinos.
Head Coach Ian Watson thinks his side ‘had a dig’ but in the end Leeds were too clever and too quick in and around the ruck and this proved crucial.
“We’d spoken about controlling the speed of the ruck and getting on top of that and we did in the early stages of each half.
“But as soon as they got us once around the ruck with a quick play-the-ball they got quicker around the ruck in the first half and scored off it twice.
“Then we kind of addressed it at half-time and said how we wanted to defend and in the second half we were probing we just needed to get some points there.
“They went down the other end and scored on us and then we were always on the back foot from there and they started getting the ruck real quick again.
“When you’ve got players like Rob Burrow, Matt Parcell and Danny McGuire they just play really quick on you from dummy half and split you open.
“Leeds defended well as they always do at this time of the season they scrambled well for each other as a team and we just couldn’t turn the screw and get some points on the board.
“I think if we’d have got one try we would have got some more points on the board afterwards at the backend because we’d have opened them up.
“We just weren’t smart enough in certain areas and any kind of opportunity we had we missed and any they got they took.
“They were too good and too quick around the ruck. There were positives that we controlled it for periods of the game but as soon as they got on top of us they pulled away and they’re looking really good to be fair.”
 
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