Salford v Leeds reaction

Brian McDermott paid tribute to Leeds' "mental strength" after the world champions booked a quarter-final spot with victory over Salford.

The Rhinos, beaten Challenge Cup finalists for the last two seasons, were level at 10-10 until Shaun Lunt went over from Danny McGuire's pass nine minutes from time and skipper Kevin Sinfield slotted his second conversion.

Leeds other tries came from Brent Webb and Ben Jones-Bishop with Lee Jewitt and Jodie Broughton replying for the Reds.

McDermott said:"It was very tough but that's the Challenge Cup.

"Salford have not been in the form they would have liked in their last four games and there was always going to be a reaction to their defeat at Wakefield last week.

"The weather had a bearing and the wind was ridiculous.

"We invested a lot of energy against Catalan last week and there was a bit of a hangover from that.

"But I was as impressed with our mental strength today as much as at any time since I have been at the club.

"The most impressive thing was we didn't give away field position in the second half and we upped the ante."

Salford lost Chris Nero with an elbow injury and coach Phil Veivers said: "We got ourselves in a winning position at 10-6 but then we stopped playing and lost our go-forward.

"Leeds had a lot of opportunities in the first half but we scrambled well.

"This was a match we could have won but it wasn't to be."