Sinfield: We weren't at our best

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Rhinos captain Kevin Sinfield admitted the champions were rusty in their 28-6 victory, which came in freezing conditions in front of an impressive Headingley crowd of 14,827.

"We're disappointed with the second half but I suppose at this stage of the season, if there weren't things to work on, we'd be pretty surprised," said Sinfield, who kicked four goals in his first match since the World Cup.

"We haven't done much ball work together and it showed. There is loads for us to work on and we got the two points. We're on the ladder and it can only get better.

"We started off alright but perhaps a bit of fatigue set in, I'm not sure. It was a potential banana skin. Celtic were always going to be fired up and make it difficult for us.

"There was always going to be a spell in the game where they threw things at us. They played some good stuff but I thought we were pretty poor in the second half."

The champions picked up from where they left off at Old Trafford in October, running in four tries in a 24-minute purple patch.

Full-back Lee Smith, man of the match in the Grand Final, grabbed two of the tries and wingmen Ryan Hall and Scott Donald also touched down as the Rhinos raced into a 22-0 interval lead.

But it was the new boys who dominated after the break, with winger Luke Dyer scoring their first-ever Super League try, and they would have had the satisfaction of winning the second half had they not conceded a last-minute try to Carl Ablett.