Rhinos boss happy to keep something in reserve

The champions combined dogged defence with flashes of attacking brilliance to end the brave run of Catalans Dragons with a 27-20 victory in the first semi-final at Headingley last night.

"We had players that did some nice things but probably weren't as consistently good as they normally are," he said. "It's kind of nice to know that."

McClennan added: "We hold our hands up. We could have done better. But in some ways it's nice that we didn't fire all our shots.

"We've got experience of winning Grand Finals and timing is everything. It's a matter of us getting our timing right."

The Dragons, making a fourth trip to England in as many weeks, started and finished the tie the stronger side, with right winger Vincent Duport completing a hat-trick of tries, but were sunk by a Rhinos purple patch either side of half-time.

England winger Ryan Hall and stand-off Danny McGuire each scored two tries, the former taking his remarkable tally for the season to 33, and Australian flier Scott Donald also touched down as the Rhinos raced into a 26-4 lead early in the second half.

However, they need a Kevin Sinfield drop goal to ease their anxiety during a brave Dragons fightback that gave their colourful band of followers something to cheer.

Catalans coach Kevin Walters was left to reflect on an exciting finish to a season that began in such disappointing fashion and insisted they would be better for the experience.

"I won't say the season was terrific because it wasn't but certainly in the last four or five weeks they've really put their hands up and shown what a quality team they can be if they want to be," he said.