Leeds vs Castleford: Rhinos coach Dave Furner calls for defensive resilience
Watch Leeds vs Castleford live on Sky Sports Arena from 7pm on Thursday
Last Updated: 28/03/19 3:43pm
Leeds Rhinos coach Dave Furner has underlined the importance of being defensively resilient ahead of facing Castleford Tigers on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Arena.
The Rhinos are two points adrift at the foot of the Super League table ahead of the clash at Headingley having played one game more than most of their rivals.
With Leeds boasting the league's top try scorer Ash Handley and leading metre maker Konrad Hurrell, Furner is not concerned with his side's attacking prowess, but he acknowledges that greater solidity is needed ahead of facing the Tigers.
He said: "It is the defensive side that's been letting us down and they are the areas we've been working on, but two weeks ago it was last play kicks and last week we conceded three tries from dummy-half.
"We have just got to be more consistent, in particular on our tryline. It is something I keep instilling in this team, resilience on our tryline.
"If you stop a try it is just like scoring one. We need to have that really tough mentality there. We are going to keep working on that, we have conceded far too many points and we need to rectify that."
The struggling Rhinos were dealt another blow this week with the news that forward Carl Ablett with be ruled out for up to six weeks after undergoing ankle surgery.
Furner added: "It is really disappointing for Carl because physically, he is in great shape but he has not been able to get back to full out running with the team.
"The surgeon is confident that the problem has been sorted now and hopefully he will be able to return as soon as possible once he is back running.
"It will be great to add his experience to our group when he is back available."
Leeds will also be without Liam Sutcliffe's old second-row partner Brett Ferres, who starts a two-match ban for use of the knees, and that is set to pave the way for a recall for James Donaldson.
Furner welcomes Harry Newman into his squad in place of the suspended Ferres, while Tui Lolohea has once more been named in Leeds' initial 19-man party.
Sutcliffe looks certain to continue at six after playing well in the 26-22 defeat by the Dragons.
Castleford have won seven of the last eight meetings with Leeds, their only defeat coming in the 2017 Grand Final, and they are currently nine places above them in the table.
However, coach Daryl Powell does not expect his old club to remain relegation-threatened for long.
"It's still early days in the season but they're in games and they're difficult to beat," Powell said. "Unfortunately for them they are getting beat.
"They'll turn that around at some point. Hopefully that won't happen this week but we know we need to make sure we're good enough to beat them."
Powell has also made one alteration to his Tigers outfit that lost to St Helens in their last encounter as Will Maher comes in for Tuoyo Egodo.
Maher tore his pectoral muscle during pre-season and has been out of action until returning two weeks ago while on dual registration with Halifax.
Team news
Leeds 19-man squad: Jack Walker, Tom Briscoe, Kallum Watkins, Konrad Hurrell, Ash Handley, Tui Lolohea, Richie Myler, Matt Parcell, Brad Singleton, Trent Merrin, Brad Dwyer, Liam Sutcliffe, Nathaniel Peteru, Mikolaj Oledzki, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Cameron Smith, James Donaldson, Harry Newman, Tom Holroyd.
Castleford 19-man squad: James Clare, Chris Clarkson, Matt Cook, Greg Eden, Alex Foster, Oliver Holmes, Will Maher, Nathan Massey, Peter Mata'utia, Paul McShane, Grant Millington, Adam Milner, Greg Minikin, Junior Moors, Jordan Rankin, Jesse Sene-Lefao, Michael Shenton, Jake Trueman, Liam Watts.