McDermott slams slow rucks after Leeds beat Giants

Leeds coach Brian McDermott was not a particularly happy man after his team’s 28-24 win over Huddersfield on Thursday evening.

McDermott felt that the game did not flow, and that the Giants were guilty of slowing the game down at the ruck by using dubious techniques.

“I’m happy we have won but I didn’t think it was a great performance,” he said, according to Sky Sports.

“There is not much from that game I want to take over into next week.

“I thought we should have had more of a hold on the game but you can’t dismiss Huddersfield’s resilience.

“Credit to them for coming from 18-0 down. Obviously, they’ve got a bit more about them than their league position shows.

“I don’t want to be disrespectful to them but I thought in the second half Huddersfield were allowed to do certain things in the ruck which made the game frustrating to watch.

“It was a poor standard, with late flops and laying on in the tackle.”

McDermott felt that spectators would not have enjoyed watching the game, thanks to the Giants’ methods of slowing Leeds down.

“This is not for now but Huddersfield obviously came in the second half with a method of slowing us down,” he added, speaking to the BBC.

“I don’t blame them for that and I am not having a crack at one individual referee or Huddersfield but nobody wants to watch that.

“That was an incredibly slow game to watch but credit to them for coming back and making it a contest. They are in better shape than their league position suggests.

“I wouldn’t say we are firing on all cylinders yet but I am happy with the win, although it was a frustrating game to be involved with.”