Leeds Rhinos: Rangi’s tackle was ‘cowardly’ says boss McDermott

Any Leeds Rhinos player committing the sort of tackle Rangi Chase has been banned for would be dropped from the team, coach Brian McDermott says.

By Peter Smith Thursday, 9th April 2015, 5:52 pm

Rangi Chase.

Chase – who was Man of Steel in 2011, when he played for Castleford Tigers – will miss Salford Red Devils’ home clash with Rhinos on Sunday as he begins a seven-game ban. The RFL’s disciplinary panel this week found Chase guilty of making a Grade E dangerous throw on Brett Ferres in Salford’s win at Huddersfield Giants a week ago.

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Giants coach Paul Anderson fears Ferres could be sidelined for four months due to an ankle injury suffered in the incident and McDermott described that sort of tackle as “cowardly”. Said the Leeds boss: “You need to ban them, punish them and put some sanctions in place. You talk about aggression and players losing control of their emotions and I think that is getting worse in our game at the moment.

“There’s an element of if you can tackle sneakier and hit sneakier and hit with a bit more cowardly intent, they seem to start having a bearing on the game. You do need to ban people and hold them accountable, but you have to look at who’s controlling the players, why do they feel they can do that? If any of the Rhinos players did anything like that I would bring them into line straight away.