Half-time talk fires up Rhinos

Leeds Rhinos coach Dean Lance revealed that a half-time heart-to-heart with his team transformed their fortunes against London Broncos at the Valley.  

The Rhinos, who trailed 18-0 after a storming start by the Broncos, kept their nerve and ran in 50 unanswered points to open their Super League campaign with a win.

Man-of-the-match Keith Senior sparked the Leeds revival and went on to complete a hat-trick of tries.

Senior scored his tries after 37, 61 and 76 minutes while there were also two touchdowns apiece for Chev Walker and Karl Pratt.

Lance said: "I was disappointed by the way that we started and we spoke at half-time about patience and doing the things that we train to do.

"I thought we were off our game early on and we had to focus more on the things we needed to do and achieve our goals.

"When we got back from the USA the players and myself made a pact with each other that we were going to show what we can do and to win your first game is a good start."

Broncos coach Tony Rea admitted he was unhappy that his side crumbled after taking an 18-0 lead.

"We have to keep on finding another level, despite the scoreline," said Rea.

"We were playing pretty smart but we didn't change up a gear again for the second half.

"It looked as if we were not handling the physical aspect of the game.

"Maybe we just need a couple of games to warm up and then our season may start."