CASTLEFORD TIGERS 36 LEEDS RHINOS 34
CALLUM WALKER, OneBore Stadium, Sunday

IT was one of those games that you had to be there for.

Twice Leeds could have run away with proceedings after leading 16-0 and then 30-16. As it was, Castleford inflicted perhaps the most stunning victory of the entire Super League season.

Tom Weaver, dropped last week, was superb whilst the likes of Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e and Tyler Dupree ran their blood to water.

The Rhinos, however, will rue lost leads, errors and missed Jake Connor conversions as Leeds’ title hopes took a slight dint.

There was little sign of what was to come when James McDonnell skipped on the outside of Joe Stimson in the second minute.

Mikaele Ravalawa couldn’t take in a Connor bomb and, from the resulting set, the Tigers were found offside as a Connor penalty made it 6-0.

The onslaught was relentless with Cameron Smith being held up moments later, but there was nothing the hosts could do about Alfie Edgell’s score on ten minutes – though the final offload from McDonnell appeared to have travelled forwards.

Connor converted and, 12-0 down, things got worse shortly after for the Tigers when Daejarn Asi’s kick was charged down by McDonnell.

McDonnell spun away and fed Brodie Croft, who had enough pace to finish from halfway. Connor’s conversion hit the post, but Leeds were now 16-0 up.

It took the Tigers 24 minutes to finally put together a meaningful attack and, when they did, it yielded points, Ravalawa forcing his way through. Weaver couldn’t add the extras, but it would be his only miss.

Despite that Castleford flurry, the visitors soon regained the momentum, Maika Sivo rampaging 80 metres and steamrolling over Weaver for a quite remarkable effort. The only saving grace for the Tigers was Connor’s conversion rate, as he missed again.

There was a great deal of concern when Danny Levi was stretchered off, but the ten-minute breather rejuvenated Castleford who crossed in the next set through Ashton Golding. Weaver reduced the deficit to ten at 20-10.

More Castleford joy followed, Mellor sending a lovely flick to the charging Jason Qareqare, who made no mistake for his 16th try in 21 games.

Weaver converted and, somehow, Castleford were down just four points at half-time.

An early Leeds penalty saw them reassert their dominance following the resumption, Tom Holroyd taking a short Connor pass next to the posts. Connor converted for 26-16.

McDonnell went over in similar fashion to his first before Presley Cassell knocked on with the line begging.

The Tigers again weathered that storm and Asi’s great solo effort brought Ryan Carr’s men back to within eight points at 30-22.

A stunning Lachlan Miller break went unrewarded as the final pass was adjudged forward and the hosts punished the visitors on the hour, Jack Ashworth gliding through a huge gap.

Weaver made it 30-28, but Qareqare inexplicably let the kick-off bounce out. The Tigers survived that scare and almost took the lead for the first time through Qareqare himself, but an obstruction denied the winger.

Weaver levelled the scores as there was a late tackle in the build-up, and then there was no denying Qareqare his second when Jack Brown’s superb offload found Semi Valemei and he fed his winger to give Castleford the lead for the first time.

Weaver made it 36-30 with eight to go and while Croft dummied his way through straight after, Connor missed the conversion as Castleford, incredibly, held on.

GAMESTAR: Tom Weaver responded to being dropped in emphatic fashion.

GAMEBREAKER: When three Castleford defenders piled on a loose ball on the hooter, you could sense what the victory meant.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Maika Sivo rampaging 80 metres for a scintillating solo score.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Tom Weaver (Castleford)
2 pts James McDonnell (Leeds)
1 pt Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e (Castleford)

MATCHFACTS

TIGERS
35 Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e
5 Mikaele Ravalawa
2 Semi Valemei
12 Alex Mellor
22 Jason Qareqare
6 Daejarn Asi
7 Tom Weaver
36 Tyler Dupree
9 Liam Hood
10 George Lawler
31 Ashton Golding
39 Jack Brown
13 Joe Stimson
Subs (all used)
8 Renouf Atoni
15 Jack Ashworth
25 Sam Hall
27 Cain Robb
18th man (not used)
24 Jenson Windley
Also in 21-man-squad
11 Jordan Lane
16 Joe Westerman
23 Krystian Mapapalangi

Tries: Ravalawa (24), Golding (34), Qareqare (40, 71), Asi (55), Ashworth (62)
Goals: Weaver 6/7

RHINOS
1 Lachlan Miller
21 Alfie Edgell
3 Harry Newman
33 Jack Bird
2 Maika Sivo
6 Brodie Croft
7 Jake Connor
8 Mikolaj Oledzki
23 Danny Levi
15 Cooper Jenkins
14 Chris Hankinson
12 James McDonnell
17 Cameron Smith
Subs (all used)
10 Tom Holroyd
11 Kallum Watkins
20 Presley Cassell
26 Tom Nicholson-Watton
18th man (not used)
25 Ben Littlewood
Also in 21-man squad
22 Riley Lumb
28 Fergus McCormack
– Zak Lloyd

Tries: McDonnell (2, 45), Edgell (10), Croft (14, 74), Sivo (25), Holroyd (43)
Goals: Connor 3/8

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-6, 0-12, 0-16, 4-16, 4-20, 10-20, 16-20; 16-26, 16-30, 22-30, 28-30, 30-30, 36-30, 36-34

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Tigers: Tom Weaver; Rhinos: James McDonnell

Penalty count: 6-4
Half-time: 16-20
Referee: Liam Rush
Attendance: 9,296