World Club Challenge: Leeds ‘can tackle North Queensland Cowboys despite bad form’

After their mauling by Widnes, acting captain Rob Burrow expects a different Leeds to turn up for the World Club Challenge

Acting Leeds captain Rob Burrow (Getty Images)

Leeds’ 56-12 mauling by Widnes last Sunday could hardly have been worse preparation for arguably the Super League champions’ biggest game of the year this Sunday. But acting captain Rob Burrow expects a different Leeds to turn up for the World Club Challenge against NRL champions North Queensland Cowboys at Headingley.

Leeds, treble winners last season, are bottom of the table after their worst start to a season in 16 years and they also lost three more players to injury against Widnes. However, Burrow, deputising for the Rhinos’ injured new captain Danny McGuire, insists that last Sunday the team did not have one eye on the visit of the Australian champions in the climax to the 2016 World Club Series, in which the Super League and NRL champions play each other in a one-off game.

“I know a lot of people in the crowd are going to be thinking that but that’s not the case,” Burrow said. “It’s never the case. We need every two points we can get in Super League, it’s that tight. We were focused on playing well. But we didn’t, we were terrible. Everything went wrong for us. I thought Widnes were really, really good and it made it a long day for us. But we can’t dwell on that. Last week has finished now, we’ve got to move on.

“All we can do is focus on training really well, being positive and putting in a good performance at the weekend. I think the performance on Sunday was irrelevant to how we’ve been playing.”

Already without forwards Stevie Ward and Jamie Jones-Buchanan, and new signing Beau Falloon as well as McGuire, the Rhinos’ ranks have been further depleted with the loss of Tom Briscoe, Ashton Golding and Carl Ablett. Leeds coach Brian McDermott is likely to bring in Mitch Achurch, Josh Walters and Ash Handley to plug the gaps and Burrow is confident that the champions still have enough talent at their disposal to topple the Cowboys.

“We’re lucky enough to have a real strong squad,” he said. “There’s good players who miss out every week.”

Sunday’s game will present another big opportunity for teenage half-back Jordan Lilley, who made only his second start against the Vikings. “People like Jordan need to stand up in these games and he’s the type of character who will do,” Burrow said.