Ryan Hall injury update as Leeds Rhinos lose key man for St Helens Challenge Cup tie

Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur admits he is hopeful of welcoming back Ryan Hall for next week’s Challenge Cup tie with St Helens: but they will be without Matt Frawley for that game.

The Rhinos were beaten 11-0 by Catalans Dragons on Saturday evening – the third successive season in which they have failed to score a single point in Perpignan.

And they were without star winger Hall for that game after he withdrew due a rib problem. Ethan Clark-Wood came in for his debut in place of Hall on the wing.

But Arthur admitted the England great should be fine to play next weekend, saying: “I think he’ll be alright next week.”

However, there was less promising news on Frawley – who went off in the second half with a head knock and subsequently failed a HIA.

That automatically rules him out next weekend and Arthur said: “He didn’t come back on, he seems okay now but he won’t be right for next week.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Arthur was left in a somewhat downbeat mood after the game, lamenting Leeds’ performance as they suffered their second defeat in four games.

They were unable to breach Catalans’ line once all evening, continuing their extraordinary recent hoodoo in the south of France.

“The poor completion rate, we didn’t build any pressure,” Arthur said. “And we didn’t drag the opposition into any flowing footy.

“You can’t do it one week and not the next. We need to be more consistent because it’s a simple game and we just didn’t do the simple things good enough tonight.

“We created some opportunities but some little skill let us down.”

Arthur did reserve some praise for Clark-Wood following his debut after recently joining the club though, saying: “He’d done a pretty good job. It’s hard coming into a new team and he did a pretty good job. He certainly didn’t cost us the result.”