'Spirit got us through' - Richard Agar on Leeds Rhinos' Challenge Cup triumph

That was boss Richard Agar’s assessment of Leeds Rhinos’ dramatic 17-16 Challenge Cup final victory over Salford Red Devils at Wembley.

It is Leeds’ first silverware for three years, but while he was delighted with the result, Agar felt the performance overall was below-par.

After leading 6-0 and 12-6, Rhinos lost their grip on the game and went 16-12 behind with 22 minutes left.

Agar admitted he feared they were “gone” at that stage, but an Ash Handley try and Luke Gale’s 76th minute drop goal brought the trophy back to Emerald Headingley for the 14th time.

“I felt our spirit got us through in the end,” Agar said in his post-match press conference.

“I don’t think it was a pretty performance at all.

“I thought we had some great energy and Luke came up with a clutch play like we know he can.

“I don’t want to be too harsh, because we’ve just won the Challenge Cup, but I thought we had some poor performers in the second 40 and it wasn’t a good performance attacking-wise.

“I thought spirit-wise, defensively, we just managed to hold our gloves up long enough and just enough.”

Leeds dominated most of the first half, but managed only two tries, either side of a spectacular long-range Salford touchdown.

Agar said: “I was really happy with the first half, I thought we controlled the first half really well.

“I felt there were times we didn’t quite get our finishes right and they ran the length of the field on a kick-return try and we came up with a couple of poor decisions, but I still felt it was going to plan in the first half.

“We knew they wouldn’t go away, I think they are a really good and underestimated football team with a lot of experience.

“We talked about trying to improve in a couple of areas in the second half, but we started the first 15 minutes of the second half in a terrible fashion.

“We never quite got back into the game, there were a couple of times where we looked gone.”

The boss praised his substitutes, who had to dig deep after Rhinos lost Adam Cuthbertson to an elbow injury and then Tom Briscoe went off for a head injury assessment, though he was able to return.

Agar said: “If Tommy had stayed off I am not sure we could have managed that last 15 minutes with what we had left on interchange.

“Him coming back on and the energy Brad Dwyer gave us - who we were holding back because of the difficulties of our bench - and the input of Alex Sutcliffe, was magnificent for us.”