Youngsters give McClennan future hope

Leeds coach Brian McClennan believes his promising young players will remember their 18-12 engage Super League victory over bottom club Castleford for the rest of their lives.

Fourteen of McClennan's squad were absent - seven were rested after playing in Saturday night's Gillette international between England and France - and another seven were injured or suspended.

That forced the former New Zealand coach to field several youngsters from the club's academy and he said: "Thirteen of those boys came through the academy here and to see their faces in there at the end was fantastic. It's something they will remember for the rest of their lives."

After Castleford went 10-0 ahead early in the second half, the young Rhinos showed both quality and spirit to conjure a sensational fightback which brought tries for Lee Smith, Brent Webb and Matt Diskin.

The fact that the three scorers were all established first-team members was not lost on McClennan, and he was quick to pay tribute to young full-back Ben Jones-Bishop and half-back Danny Allan.

He added: "During the week I said to the guys, even the older ones like Brent Webb, that 'you will play 200 to 300 games and you won't remember them all - but you'll remember this one'.

"What a fantastic team and what a great honour it is to be involved in something like that.

"It showed the British game is in very good health when those youngsters can come in and produce something like that.

"Matt Diskin was enormous for us, and Brent Webb did a cracking job as well, but Danny Allan looked good at half-back and Jones-Bishop showed how much potential he has."