Kevin Sinfield laments ugly day for Leeds

Leeds director of rugby Kevin Sinfield was realistic after what he called an ugly day for his side as they lost 48-12 to Warrington in the Challenge Cup semi-final.

They led 6-2 early on but found themselves 26-6 down at half time and despite briefly rallying at the start of the second half, fell to a humbling defeat.

Sinfield said: “It was ugly. We had a really difficult first 40. I thought we showed something for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but it was too little too late.

“It’s disappointing, we are where we are. It’s been a rough month for all of us I think.

“It doesn’t change too much in terms of where we’re at. It’s tough because you lose out on the chance for some silverware and a trip to Wembley, but being realistic we’re not there and not able to win a game of that size.

“We don’t have any momentum and we need to move quickly.

“We’re concerned. Obviously some teams are going to come after us and rightly so, I don’t blame them, we’ve got to be ready for that challenge.

“Onwards and upwards. We’ve got to change. If it wasn’t like this, I wouldn’t have been asked to come in. We will be better.

“I’m not going after the players here, we’re all in it together. I thought the response in the first 15 minutes of the second half was Leeds like, close to somewhere where we need to be, other than it was an ugly day.”