Leeds Rhinos dealt fresh injury blow as new spine player set for scans

Leeds Rhinos are facing up to the prospect of the loss of another key player: with hooker Andy Ackers set to go for scans to determine the severity of a hamstring injury.

Ackers left the field in the closing stages of the Challenge Cup defeat to St Helens on Friday and did not return, with youngster Jack Sinfield coming on in his place.

And Arthur confirmed post-match that Ackers will now be assessed in the coming days to discover just how bad the injury which forced him from the field was – with Leeds facing up to the loss of another key player.

“He’s done his hamstring. I don’t know how bad. He’ll have to have scans,” Arthur said.

Arthur left Jarrod O’Connor – Ackers’ usual replacement at nine – out on Friday night, but explained the rationale behind it post-match was due to Lachie Miller’s return.

Arthur said: “We wanted to make sure we had coverage for Lachie. Sinny can cover in the halves and the plan was to bring him in the halves and move Jake to fullback and take Lachie off.”

Arthur insisted he had seen plenty of positives from his side despite their lengthy wait for a cup win against Super League opposition continuing on Friday.

He said: “I thought in the 65 minutes we were really good. The first half we started to get some good ascendancy and get on top, and it was a real grind. We gave away a penalty and there was a two-minute lapse of concentration, a penalty and a try off a kick. We were happy to come in at 6-2.

“There was a ten-minute window that hurt us. We had good effort and good physicality and stayed in the fight. We’ve got to learn to do that for 80 minutes. I thought we were a bit clunky down near the try-line but that’s our fifth different combination. There were some better signs.”

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