LEIGH coach Neil Jukes was delighted with his side's improved showing as they went down 17-14 to Leeds in their first home match of the 2017 Betfred Super League season.

Jukes rang the changes following his side's opening 44-16 rout by Castleford and they looked to have done the trick as they raced into an early 8-0 lead thanks to tries from Matty Dawson and Mitch Brown.

The Rhinos rallied to lead 15-8 at the break but a 68th-minute try from Ben Crooks set up a nerve-tingling finish and the visitors were forced to defend desperately to keep their lead intact.

"It was a big improvement but I'm really disappointed with the result," Jukes said. "We hung in there for long enough and I thought there were two big moments at the end on our right edge, where we needed to pass the ball.

"They are fine margins and we've got to make sure we take them. We're going to have to win some tight games and to do that we've got to nail the plays when they are presented to us."

Already without skipper Micky Higham and vice-captain Glenn Stewart, Leigh lost veteran forward Gareth Hock with a dead leg and debutant prop Antoni Maria with a shoulder injury.

"I thought we did it tough," Jukes added. "We lost Gareth Hock after 13 minutes and he wasn't able to return and we lost Jamie Acton to the sin bin.

"But I thought we learned some lessons from last week. We are not a million miles off. While Leeds had a difficult season last year, they are going to be up there this year."

Leeds, who welcomed skipper Danny McGuire back from injury, scored tries through Adam Cuthbertson, Ryan Hall and Jimmy Keinhorst but spilled too much possession for coach Brian McDermott's liking.

"I'm pretty pleased and proud of the defensive effort we showed in the second half but disappointed with what we did with the ball and how many times we turned it over, probably in the most cheapest fashion I've seen," McDermott said.

"There was error after error which is clearly not going to get us too far this year.

"But I know from experience that you can correct those things within a matter of days. What you can't put into a team is the toughness and steel you need to be to go through those tough periods.

"Leigh are a very good attacking team and, while we did invite them into the game, they certainly took up the invite and challenged us with some good plays."

McDermott was pleased that his side did not panic after conceding two early tries and was relieved to have his captain back.

"Leigh were great and came out of the blocks," he added. "We weren't doing that much wrong and the composure we showed at 8-0 down was good.

"Brad Singleton was outstanding and I thought Adam Cuthbertson was the difference, he started a lot of good things for us.

"Danny McGuire looked sharp and keen, it was good to have him in the team."