2008 Leeds Rhinos season

Leeds Rhinos
Season 2008
League Super League
Coach New Zealand Brian McClennan
League position 2nd
Top Pointscorer Kevin Sinfield
Top Goalscorer Kevin Sinfield
Top Tryscorer Scott Donald
Highest home attendance 19,296
Lowest home attendance 5,087
Challenge Cup Semi Finalists

The 2008 Leeds Rhinos season saw the club compete in Super League XIII as well as the 2008 Challenge Cup tournament.

Events by month

February

  • Super League 13 Started on Friday, 2 February (ko 7.30pm )with Leeds beating Hull KR 20–12 at Headingley.
  • 29th, Leeds beat Australasian Grand Final winners Melbourne Storm in the 2008 World Club Challenge 10–4 at Elland Road.

March

  • The Rhinos lost their first game against Castleford Tigers on 7 March, (Round 5 of Super League) at The Jungle. This was also Castleford's first win of the season.[1]

April

  • Super League club played first game in the Challenge cup.

May

June

July

  • Leeds played St. Helens in the Challenge Cup Semi Final on 26 July 2008.

2008 squad

As of 16 June 2008

Nationality Squad No Player Position App Tries Goals DG Points
New Zealand 1 Brent Webb Full-Back 17 10 0 0 40
Australia 2 Scott Donald Wing 17 17 0 0 68
New Zealand 3 Clinton Toopi Centre 4 0 0 0 0
England 4 Keith Senior Centre 17 10 0 0 40
England 5 Lee Smith Wing 10 4 0 0 16
England 6 Danny McGuire Stand-off 12 7 0 0 28
England 7 Rob Burrow Scrum-Half 17 12 6 0 60
New Zealand 8 Kylie Leuluai Prop 15 3 0 0 12
England 9 Matt Diskin Hooker 16 4 0 0 16
England 10 Jamie Peacock Prop 15 2 0 0 8
England 11 Jamie Jones-Buchanan Second-Row 10 3 0 0 12
England 12 Gareth Ellis Second-Row 15 2 0 0 8
England 13 Kevin Sinfield (C) Loose-Forward 17 2 74 0 156
Samoa 14 Ali Lauitiiti Second-Row 11 4 0 0 16
England 16 Ryan Bailey Prop 14 0 0 0 0
England 17 Nick Scruton Prop 15 1 0 0 4
England 18 Ian Kirke Second-Row 4 1 0 0 4
England 19 Carl Ablett Second-Row 14 3 0 0 12
England 20 Ashley Gibson Centre 1 0 0 0 0
England 21 Jordan Tansey Scrum half 12 2 0 0 8
England 22 Ryan Hall Wing 8 3 0 0 12
England 23 Danny Williams Wing 4 0 0 0 0
England 24 Luke Burgess Prop 11 3 0 0 12
England 25 Danny Allan Loose forward 0 0 0 0 0
England 26 Ben Kaye Hooker 3 1 0 0 4
England 27 Michael Ratu Centre 0 0 0 0 0
England 28 Simon Worrall Second Row 8 1 0 0 4
England 29 Luke Gale Scrum half 0 0 0 0 0
England 30 Michael Haley Prop 0 0 0 0 0
England 31 Paul McShane Hooker 0 0 0 0 0
England 32 Kallum Watkins Centre 2 1 0 0 4
England 33 Joe Chandler Prop 0 0 0 0 0
England 34 Ben Jones-Bishop Full back 0 0 0 0 0
France 35 Eric Anselme Second Row 3 2 0 0 8

2008 Player Signings/Transfers

Gains

Player Previous Club Years Signed
Luke Burgess Doncaster Resigned
Danny Williams Castleford Tigers Resigned
Eric Anselme Albi Loan (4 Months)

Losses

Losses
Player Signed for When left
Jamie Thackray Hull F.C. May

Coaching Set-Up

Nationality Staff Name Position
New Zealand Brian McClennan Head Coach
England Francis Cummins Assistant Coach
Samoa Willie Poching Assistant Coach
England Aleks Gross Sports Scientist
England Billy Watts Timekeeper
England Jason Davidson Head Conditioner
Wales Meirion Jones Head Physiotherapist
England Rob Wilson Masseur

2008 Fixtures/Results

2008 Engage Super League

Rd Home Team Score Away Team Result (W/D/L) Attendance
F Leeds Rhinos 18 – 26 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats L 10,143
F Hunslet Hawks 6 – 50 Leeds Rhinos W
F Featherstone Rovers 20 – 42 Leeds Rhinos W
F Leeds Rhinos 50 – 4 Oldham W
F Leeds Rhinos 26 – 24 South Sydney Rabbitohs W 12,500
4* Leeds Rhinos 20 – 12 Hull KR W 18,467
1 Huddersfield Giants 10 – 30 Leeds Rhinos W 15,620
2 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 8 – 44 Leeds Rhinos W 9,863
3 Leeds Rhinos 34 – 6 Catalans Dragons W 14,083
WCC Leeds Rhinos 11 – 4 Melbourne Storm W 33,204
5 Castleford Tigers 38 – 20 Leeds Rhinos L 9,459
6 Leeds Rhinos 48 – 0 Harlequins W 14,557
7 Leeds Rhinos 44 – 2 Bradford Bulls W 19,296
8 Hull FC 4 – 30 Leeds Rhinos W 14,113
9 St Helens 10 – 14 Leeds Rhinos W 11,188
10 Leeds Rhinos 10–14 Wigan Warriors L 18,769
11 Leeds Rhinos 32–12 Warrington Wolves W 16,327
CCC4 Leeds Rhinos 38–16 Celtic Crusaders W 5,087
12 Hull KR 22–36 Leeds Rhinos W 9,391
13** Bradford Bulls 26–40 Leeds Rhinos W 30,628
CCC5 Harlequins RL 26–36 Leeds Rhinos W 2,300
14 Leeds Rhinos 58–12 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats W 17,647
15 Bradford Bulls 14–30 Leeds Rhinos W 14,013
CCCQF Leeds Rhinos 23–16 Wigan Warriors W 10,129
16 Leeds Rhinos 38–22 Hull FC W 16,886
17 Harlequins RL 28–24 Leeds Rhinos L 3,769
18 Leeds Rhinos 12–26 St Helens L 18,303
19 Leeds Rhinos 18–12 Castleford Tigers W 17,619
20 Wigan Warriors 23–22 Leeds Rhinos L 14,911
21 Leeds Rhinos 46–8 Huddersfield Giants W 14,739
22 Catalans Dragons 24–37 Leeds Rhinos W 9,880
CCCSF*** Leeds Rhinos 16–26 St Helens L
23 Warrington Wolves 22–12 Leeds Rhinos L 9,150
24 Leeds Rhinos 28–18 Bradford Bulls W 17,508
25 Leeds Rhinos 54–12 Castleford Tigers W 17,354
26 Wigan Warriors 16–52 Leeds Rhinos W 14,778
27 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 12–30 Leeds Rhinos W 6,448
ESL PO1 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
ESL PO2 St Helens 30–10 Leeds Rhinos L 11,407
ESL PO3 Leeds Rhinos 18–14 Wigan Warriors W 13,112
ESLGF**** St Helens 16–24 Leeds Rhinos W 68,810

*Round 4 played before round one to accommodate World Club Challenge on Round 4 weekend

**Round 13 played at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

***Carnegie Challenge Cup Semi-Final played at the Galpharm Stadium, Huddersfield

****engage Super League Grand Final played at Old Trafford, Manchester.


Super League XIII
Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Qualification
1 St. Helens (L) 27 21 1 5 940 457 +483 43 Semi-final
2 Leeds Rhinos (C) 27 21 0 6 863 413 +450 42
3 Catalans Dragons 27 16 2 9 694 625 +69 34 Elimination semi-finals
4 Wigan Warriors 27 13 3 11 648 698 −50 29
5 Bradford Bulls 27 14 0 13 705 625 +80 28
6 Warrington Wolves 27 14 0 13 690 713 −23 28
7 Hull Kingston Rovers 27 11 1 15 564 713 −149 23
8 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 27 11 0 16 574 760 −186 22
9 Harlequins 27 11 0 16 569 763 −194 22
10 Huddersfield Giants 27 10 1 16 638 681 −43 21
11 Hull F.C. 27 8 1 18 538 699 −161 17
12 Castleford Tigers 27 7 1 19 593 869 −276 15
Source: superleague.co.uk
Rules for classification: 1st on competition points; 2nd on match points difference.
Competition points: for win = 2; for draw = 1; for loss = 0.
(C) Champions; (L) League Leaders' Shield Winners

References

  1. ^ "Castleford 38–20 Leeds". BBC Sport. 7 March 2008. Archived from the original on 11 March 2008. Retrieved 7 March 2008.