That is up for debate but the poster who said significantly better was wrong imo.

ah, I only saw the first half, in which Leeds could have scored four or five tries. I'm guessing the Kiwis were rusty and jet lagged to be fair.

Leeds' young side took a not undeserved lead early in the 2nd half. The turning point then was when NZ brought on a fresh Adam Blair and Sam Moa (plus the other hooker who looked like another Issac Luke) as Leeds kept interchanging a tiring Morley, Lauititi, Leuluai etc. Leeds' Ashton Golding looked an international full-back in the making & Jordan Lilley will be a star quality half-back. (Throw Sam Burgess into this new Leeds mix and they could be on for a few more trebles).


NZ will benefit from this but if England get their act together a 3-0 series win is very possible.

For Harris to keep saying that England will have failed if they don't win the series 3 - 0 is naïve.
Yes NZ have some players missing but, they certainly won roll over and surrender.
How many times have Aussie or NZ come over here lacking some first choice players and kicked our backsides.

England will be favourites but, the Kiwi's are no mugs.

Last night was just a glorified training session and although Leeds 2nd string did well, especially in the first half,
Test rugby is a whole different proposition.

Write them off at your peril.

Then again, after Wales' performance in the last WC he is well-qualified to speak on the subject.

I was most impressed with Singleton, very aggressive but in a controlled manner. Golding was excellent, deceptively strong, he should a star when he fills out. Although Lilley was very involved & controlling I didn't see anything special I'm afraid. He wasn't creative & lacks the speed to make up for that. I hope I'm wrong but nothing more than Matty Smith or Deacon showed.

This was - supposedly - as close to the first Test side that New Zealand had available, against a Leeds side missing 12 players, and giving farewell run-outs to two old men in Lauitiiti and Morley. Barring a spell in the second half, Leeds gave as good as they got for large parts of the game.

New Zealand have a huge forward pack, but match that and they don't have the halves to get their outside backs into space. Everything comes off the back of offloads, or Luke jumping out of dummy half. Slow that up, and they are there for the taking.

A lot of young lads in that Leeds side - Golding, Handley, Lilley, Baldwinson, Mulhern - stood up against supposedly some of the best players in the world in their respective positions and will come out a lot better for the experience. Would have been interesting to see what the Leeds grand final line-up could have done.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that a Leeds side with Sinfield, Hall, and the rest would/could have turned them over. On the night, anyway. Agree about the Kiwis' strengths and weaknesses; they were crying out for a Benji Marshall to get them going. But what a player Issac Luke is! You just have to stop him, or at least, reduce his effectiveness, to beat NZ.

A full strength Rhinos would have beaten the out of sorts Kiwi's on Friday IMO

So the fairy tale would have been complete

.

No that happened 2 weeks ago

For many I’m sure, but some just want a little more.

I worry for the Leeds fans though, I mean, where do you go from here to surpass what you’ve witnessed this year?

Maybe the W.C.C followed by the other three, but anything less will feel a little disappointing , do you think it’s all become a tad repetitive?

It certainly has for the majority of clubs supporters, with the exception of Wigan & St’s & those of decent memories of Bradford.

But if (heaven forbid) I supported a highly successful club, I think continuous success would dim my elation at seeing the club captain hold a trophy aloft.