Castleford Tigers were looking for back-to-back wins for the
first time in 2025 after defeating Salford Red Devils last time out, but they
were up against near neighbours Leeds Rhinos who are pushing towards the top of
the table and secured a sensational dying seconds win over Hull FC in round
eleven.
A win would take the Rhinos into third spot, their highest
league position for some time, while a win for the Tigers would move them to
within two points of the Warrington Wolves in eighth spot, still holding out a
hope of making the top six with a good run of form.
The home side were given an eight point start on the coupon,
the bookies expecting a close game between these two fierce rivals, closer than
when the Rhinos won by 38-24 in March.
After a great attacking spell from Castleford in the opening
minutes they went down to twelve when Liam Horne tripped Jake Connor as he ran
to take a tap restart after diffusing a bomb in his own in-goal. Referee Liam
Rush had no option but to yellow card the Tigers man.
The Tigers survived the ten minutes with a man down without conceding
a point.
But on thirty-one the Rhinos hit the front, Sam Lisone just
on as a Leeds substitute and causing trouble with his early carries, took the pass
and found a gap in the defensive line to run home and score. Jake Connor added
the extras, the Rhinos 6-0 to the good.
Sixty second from the interval the Rhinos used good field
position to engineer an opportunity for Jake Connor to kick a drop goal from
ten metres out, the Rhinos taking a seven-point lead into the sheds.
The second half was just thirty seconds old, the Rhinos minds
still in the dressing rooms, as Louis Senior took an Alex Mellor pass and
sprinted to the left corner to fly in for the try. Rowan Milnes added the touchline
conversion, the Rhinos lead down to just the solitary point.
An awful mistake from Innes Senior, spilling a Brodie Croft
kick as he chased it to the corner, allowed Harry Newman to pounce and pick up the
loose ball, take one step forwards, and ground. Connor pushed his kick across
the face of the goal, the Tigers a converted try behind.
The Rhinos third came on fifty-four, a ricochet kick from
Croft bounced into the hands of Lachie Miller who quickly passed outside to
Ryan Hall to go over in the corner. Connor drilled his touchline kick between
the uprights and the Rhinos were edging clear.
Newman’s second came on sixty-seven thanks to a kick from
Croft which was tapped back by Kallum Watkins, offloaded by a tackled Cam Smith
to McDonnell and into the hands of the Rhinos centre to dive over unmarked. Connor
found the target again with the boot to put the Rhino 23-6 ahead.
Lisone completed his brace on seventy-three, taking a McDonnell
tap back from a Connor high kick and pushing away the Tigers defenders to score
by the uprights. Connor kicked his fourth goal of the afternoon to give the
Rhinos a 29-6 win.
In the end it was a big score win for the visitors but the
final score line represented a game which Leeds definitely didn’t find easy and
at times they were frustrated by a decent Tigers defence. The Rhinos left a
number of tries on the field, mainly due to that defence, and will be scanning the
tape next week to see how they didn’t turn opportunity into tries. Leeds are up
to third in the table, and have had their confidence further boosted.
Castleford Tigers: Hoy, Simm, Cini, Senior L (T), Senior I,
Asi, Milnes (G 1/1), Amone, Horne (SB on
, Lawler, Westerman, Mellor,
Singleton.
Subs: Hall, Mustapha, Okoro, Atkin.
18th Man: Robb.
Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Hall (T), Newman (2T), Handley, Lumb, Connor
(G 4/5, DG), Croft, Oledzki, O’Connor, Jenkins, Gannon, McDonnell, Watkins. Subs:
Holroyd, Lisone (2T), Palasia, Smith. 18th Man: Bentley.
Half-Time: 0-7.
Full-Time: 6-29.
Score Progression: (SB), 0-4, 0-6, 0-7: HT: 4-7, 6-7, 6-11, 6-15,
6-17, 6-21, 6-23, 6-27, 6-29 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Leeds.
Referee: Liam Rush.
