John Cartwright has provided his debrief from last night’s narrow defeat to Leeds Rhinos.
The Hull FC Head Coach spoke to the media after the game, which Hull had held the lead in for a significant period of time.
Ryan Hall’s last-minute try put Leeds ahead on the scoreboard for the first time on the night, in a game that Cartwright believes was closely contested.
“I don’t think there was anything in the game. We held the lead for all but 30 seconds of the game,” Cartwright said in his post-match press conference.
“There was nothing between the two teams. They just got a bit of a run with the ball in those last couple of minutes, and we just weren’t good enough to push Ryan Hall over the sideline. That’s the way it goes.
“No less effort went into the game for 79 and a half minutes than it went into that last 30 seconds. We were there in numbers to try and push him over the sideline. We got there, but he is a big, strong boy, and he’s done that many a time.”
The Black & Whites’ completion rate was much higher than in recent hit-ups against Huddersfield Giants and Wigan Warriors, with a much more disciplined showing from Cartwright’s side on both sides of the ball.
Hull probed the Rhinos’ steely defence on numerous occasions, with the spine linking up to good effect to set up tries for Lewis Martin, Sam Eseh and Harvey Barron.
Despite going down to a fourth consecutive defeat, Cartwright left Headingley happy that his side had put in a stronger display – something to build on in weeks to come.
“We just held onto the ball. You can’t attack when you’re turning the ball over consistently early in the count and when you’re coming out of your own end,” he said.
“It was a much better all-round performance. We took risks when we had to – we didn’t when we didn’t need to – it was a much more complete performance, but that’s got to be a weekly thing.
“I thought the most pleasing thing was our discipline. I thought we found a really good balance of our aggression and maintaining our discipline.
“They were tested in the last few minutes in particular, but I thought they held themselves together, as we did for the whole eighty minutes.
“That’s got to be our benchmark if we want to compete against any side in this competition.”
John Cartwright is proudly sponsored by Solutech.
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