Castleford Tigers were far too strong for Leeds Rhinos today in the final game of the first day of the Magic Weekend, winning 38-6 and continuing their impressive record against the Rhinos in the regular season.
The Tigers took the lead in the twelfth minute through stand-in winger Jy Hitchcox, with Jamie Ellis adding a touchline conversion.
On 20 minutes the Tigers extended their lead with try by former Leeds Academy player Alex Foster, who was outstanding throughout against his former club. Ellis converted and then added a penalty befre Junior Moors scored Castleford’s third try shortly before the interval, with three defenders unable to stop him. A conversion and penalty from Ellis gave the Tigers a 22-0 lead at half-time.
At the start of the second half Michael Shenton scored Castleford’s fourth try and Ellis goaled, while Leeds were unlucky not to open their account on 54 minutes when Matt Parcell was denied on a dubious obstruction call by the video referee.
The Rhinos finally troubled the scorers when Mikolaj Oledzki forced his way over the line, with Kallum Watkins converting, but normal service was resumed with tries from Adam Milner and Oliver Holmes, with Ellis missing the last conversion.
The Rhinos did get the satisfaction of scoring the final try of the game, when Brett Ferres went over, with Myler unable to convert, but it was the Rhinos coach Brian McDermott who labelled his side’s performance as the softest of the season so far.
Castleford: Michael Shenton, Greg Minikin, Jake Webster, Joe Wardle, Jy Hitchcox, Jamie Ellis, Jake Trueman, Liam Watts, Paul McShane, Jesse Sene-Lefao, Alex Foster, Mike McMeeken, Adam Milner; Subs: Junior Moors, Grant Millington, Oliver Homes, Nathan Massey
Tries: Hitchcox, Foster, Moors, Shenton, Milner, Holmes; Goals: Ellis 7
Leeds: Jack Walker, Tom Briscoe, Kallum Watkins, Ash Handley, Ryan Hall, Joel Moon, Richie Myler, Nathaniel Peteru, Matt Parcell, Mikolaj Oledzki, Stevie Ward, Brett Ferres, Jamie Jones-Buchanan; Subs: Adam Cuthbertson, Brad Dwyer, Brett Delaney, Cameron Smith
Tries: Oledzki, Ferres; Goal: Watkins
A full match report and photos from this and all the other Magic Weekend games will feature in Monday’s edition of League Express.
