Leeds Rhinos faced a tenacious London Pulse side. Both squads returned to Studio 001 with flare and determination after suffering defeats in yesterday's fixtures. Looking to right their wrongs from yesterday Rhinos started the game with speed, quickly converting the first centre pass. London Pulse swiftly reacted and also converted their first centre pass of the fixture. Pulse continued to demonstrate a fastball speed, significant drives and tight defensive pressure as a unit and turned over the ball, pulling out an early lead 5-1. Both teams showed patience whilst in possession of the ball after settling into the game and utilized all 3 seconds. Rhinos starting defensive unit of Paige Kindred and Vicki Oyesola added pressure forcing ball off the backline and picked up turnovers allowing Rhinos to move through court and bring the score back 5-5. Now settled Pulse drove to circle edge giving them easy insight to feed Sigi Burger under the post. Towards the end of the quarter, Rhinos made some errors being called for footwork and gifting the ball to Pulse. Pulses tireless defensive unit turned over the ball and Pulse steadily converted to a goal. Dan Ryan made a positional change before the end of the first quarter with Michelle Magee replacing Oyesola at GD. Emily Hollingworth applied pressure to Pulses fast attacking unit and created a turnover, Jade Clarke controlled the game and took the ball down the court, unlocking the circle from circle edge allowing Rhinos to add a goal to their tally. Pulses strong start saw them end the first quarter with a 6-goal lead. (15-9) Moving into the second quarter Dan Ryan made further changes. Amelia Hall entered the game at WA, Oyesola rejoined at GD and Tuaine Kennan came onto court in the GK position. Hall quickly formed connections with Rushton and easily fed the ball from the circle edge. Tuaine Keenan started her game strong and forced a held ball which Rhinos were able to convert, after patiently scoring from their centre pass Rhinos again applied pressure defensively allowing Kennan to turn over another ball. Rhinos converted with a step shot and the game was back to two goals. Leeds Rhinos mid-court swung ball wide and kept Pulses strong defensive unit moving however London pulse continued to turnover ball. The pressure from both teams and the fight from Rhinos allowed the first half of the game to end 22-20 with all still left to play for. In her half time interview Rhinos captain Clarke, said that it had taken them until the second quarter to really execute the game plan of moving the ball quickly and utilizing the fake but looked to continue their second-quarter performance into the second half. Leeds Rhinos started the second half with intent and created a turnover on Pulse's first centre pass of the half. After then converting their own centre pass the game was all square at 22 all. Rhinos displayed patience on the ball and trusted each player and their role on the court, after another converted turnover and a long shot from Rushton Rhinos now had the lead 22-24. London Pulse started to double up on Rushton under the goal, however, patience from the mid-court and tireless work from the defensive unit Rhinos had now extended their lead up to 26-29. Rhinos continued to be patient and Hollingworth tipped the ball to disrupt Pulses flow, this caused an offside call allowing Rhinos to take the ball to goal. Pulses Rothwell ended the quarter with a shot after the buzzer due to a penalty call and Rhinos moved into the final quarter with a three-goal lead. Entering the final quarter Dan Ryan reintroduced Brie Grierson into the game at WA. Pulse made a turnover on Rhinos centre pass putting doubt into the minds of the Rhinos players. The game continued goal for goal as both teams showed the will to win. Rhinos continued through the quarter with a healthy 3/4 goal lead. With all to play for each team were looking for loose balls and the opportunity to create turnovers. Oyesola and Clarke provided the goods for Rhinos with Rushton and Dixon converting, keeping a four-goal lead. Towards the end of the final quarter, Kennan and Oyesola’s pressure in the circle forced a held ball, as well as London Pulses Rattu picking up a caution. Pulse ended the quarter strong with two turnovers in the final two minutes putting viewers on the edge of their seats at home. Hollingworth again provided the goods for Rhinos creating a turnover when it was much needed, after converting Leeds Rhinos saw out the game with a two goal win. (40-38) During post-game discussions, both head coaches gave credit to the opposing sides after a great game. Rhinos head coach explained how Pulse made the team ‘uncomfortable and that the team had to grind out an uncomfortable win’. Dan also explained that ‘looking forward attention would turn to recognising and finding ways to execute cleaner as we weren’t at our best tonight, although our team stood up when needed and critical players stepped up when required but I'm not a fan of the do or die position, we were in.’ Rhinos now have a break in fixtures until April 9th when they take on top of the table Team Bath.

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final Score
Pulse	15	7	6	10	38
Rhinos	9	11	10	10	40

TEAMS

Pulse

GK: Halimat Adio GD: Zara Everitt WD: Funmi Fadoju C: Ellie Rattu WA: Ashleigh Dekker GA: Kira Rothwell GS: Sigi Burger Substitutes - Michelle Drayne , Lindsay Keable , Lefebre Rademan, Olivia Tchine, Monique Thompson Away Team GK - Paige Kindred

Rhinos

GD: Vicki Oyesola WD: Emily Hollingworth C: Jade Clarke WA: Brie Grierson GA: Rhea Dixon GS: Sienna Rushton Substitutes, Tuaine Keenan, Leah Kennedy, Amelia Hall, Michelle Magee, Rosie Harris