'Didn’t think I still had the legs': Leeds Rhinos ace Harry Newman boosted by 2-try haul v Wigan Warriors
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Newman’s initial score, late in the first half, got Rhinos into the contest after they had trailed 14-0.
He added another long-range effort in the second period to take his tally for the season to five and the nature of both scores was a huge confidence-builder after injury problems wrecked the past few seasons.
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Hide AdA broken leg in 2020 kept him out of action for around a year - costing him a place in Rhinos’ Wembley win - and last season was wrecked by a series of hamstring issues.
“That’s my ninth appearance of the season and I am still building,” Newman told The Yorkshire Evening Post.
“I had a long time out, two years, but I am starting to get that confidence with my feet and speed.
“When you get over for two tries like that - and beat Bevan French as well, who is probably the fastest player in the league - it is good.
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Hide Ad“I did feel like I was running in treacle for the first one; I didn’t think I still had the legs, I think that one was the first time I have finished a break in four years!
“But it was great, I am happy with that - it gives me extra confidence in my hamstrings after a tough couple of years - and I’ll just kick on for this week.”
Newman reckons it is a similar situation for the team, who face Wigan again in the Betfred Challenge Cup sixth round at Headingley on Saturday.
The victory last week ended a two-game losing run and Newman was among six Rhinos try scorers as Wigan were ripped apart after the break, despite their extra man following Zane Tetevano’s 38th minute red card.
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Hide AdLeeds were eight points behind at the interval, but played arguably their best rugby of the season after that and the 23-year-old centre stressed: “That will give us confidence, no matter who we’re playing this week.
“It shows what we can do when we play like that. We are back at home, which helps and hopefully there’ll be a big crowd at Headingley.
“It’s the Challenge Cup and everyone wants to get to Wembley so we know it’ll be another tough game.”
The crucial thing for Rhinos, Newman reckons, is to back up last Friday’s effort. They have been consistently inconsistent this season and he admitted Leeds can’t afford more of that this weekend.
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Hide Ad“That has been the frustrating thing,” he conceded. “We have shown what we can do with the ball in certain moments.
“In the first half [last week] we were pretty poor with the ball, but hung in there defensively, conceding two tries. In the second half, when we had the ball and we kept hold of it, we proved what we can do.
“We’ve shown that at times this year, but the massive thing is consistency. This week it’s about backing it up and getting it from the off.
“We’ve probably been guilty of starting slowly in games and letting teams get a jump on us. Sometimes it’s too late when we kick into action.
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Hide Ad“We did it [two weeks ago] against Salford, but it was too late in the game, so consistency is a big thing.”
Rhinos’ second half attacking performance at DW Stadium grabbed the headlines, but Newman felt the way they defended under huge pressure in the opening 40 was a major positive.
“There was one soft try in the first half, but other than that we defended well for long periods,” he said.
“Credit to our middles, they did a massive job for us, especially when we went down to 12 men. I thought everybody was outstanding and overall it was a massive team performance.
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Hide Ad“When we are working together both in attack and D [defence], it shows what we can do. Too many errors early on in our sets in the first half hurt us, but we showed we can get down the other end of the field when we keep hold of the ball.
“That’s something that has probably let us down a bit in games this season, but we picked it up in the second half and showed what we can do.
“We have to stick together and do everything together and when we do we are up there with the best teams in the competition.
“We’ve shown that on occasions this year and on others we’ve let ourselves down, but to go there and post 40 points on Wigan was massive leading into the huge game this week.”