Smith salutes Wigan defence

Leeds coach Tony Smith paid tribute to the Wigan defence after the Warriors held on for a 22-18 win in the fifth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

The Rhinos piled on the pressure in the final quarter but the visitors defended heroically to protect their four-point lead and secure their place in the last eight on the road to Wembley.

"I thought they deserved their win. Wigan's defence was very good and they scrambled well," said Smith.

"The game is about taking your opportunities. Had we taken the ones we created, it might have been a different result - but I still don't think our performance was great.

"I thought we were off the boil, particularly in the first half.

"The desire was there from us but it came out in wrong ways. We tried too hard to offload the ball at times when we needed to run it.

"You've got to produce it on the day. In this competition you don't get any second chances. We were well below what we can do and that's the disappointing thing."

Wigan coach Brian Noble was proud of his players, saying: "We bent our backs and showed a lot of desire. I thought we handled their big players well.

"This team is driving me nuts. There is a lot of improvement in us.

"We showed what we could do in the first 20 minutes when I thought we looked the better team, but we kept inviting them back in our half."