McDermott fumes at critics

Leeds coach Brian McDermott sprang to the defence of his players' hair-raising exploits after they crashed to a 46-6 defeat at St Helens.

The Rhinos players sported bright red hair as part of their fundraising for Sport Relief. The Super League champions were branded "unprofessional" during a television commentary, but McDermott insisted his players' charitable efforts did not affect their below-par performance.

"We're doing that for a fantastic cause," he told the post-match press conference. "A few people had a giggle and that was over and done with. It was absolutely not about the red hair and to call us completely unprofessional is bang out of order."

McDermott admitted his side had no answer to a rejuvenated St Helens side determined to bounce back from a four-match losing run which cost head coach Royce Simmons his job.

"St Helens were great," he added. "They played too fast and beat us off the ground. They had some motivation to be good. They were unrecognisable from the team that played in the last three or four weeks.

"We clearly weren't right from the off. We were in freefall and found it hard to get back. Once you've lost massive momentum, it's hard to get back. But we didn't give in. We kept a bit of integrity and that enables us to move on to next week."

The victory meant a dream start for caretaker head coach Mike Rush, but he was quick to hand the praise to his team.

"I think you put that one down to the players," he said. "They really understood where the club was and what position we were in. Obviously they've looked long and hard at themselves.

"The shock of losing their head coach and assistant coach has really hit home with them that they need to fix it up.

"Maybe being at home and playing against a really big team was a good thing, it really focused the mind."