Castleford Tigers consolidated the top four with a convincing 44-30 victory over Huddersfield Giants at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle tonight.
The Giants took an early lead when Chris Bailey burrowed over the line from dummy-half, with Leroy Cudjoe converting.
But the Tigers replied quickly when Marc Sneyd caught on the full a long kick by Luke Robinson, and he broke through a static Huddersfield defence and handed on to Oliver Holmes for the try, although Sneyd was unable to add the goal.
The Giants extended their lead to eight points, however, when Cudjoe intercepted a pass from Liam Finn to run 90 metres for a try, again adding the goal.
Both Sneyd and Finn played a key role in the Tigers’ second try, with smart passes to winger Justin Carney who went in at the corner after 25 minutes, with Sneyd adding a difficult conversion.
And the Tigers took the lead seconds before the interval, when Finn’s kick was knocked back by Jodie Broughton, and Finn followed up his own kick to touch down under the posts, with Sneyd goaling for a 4-point interval lead.
The Tigers took a grip on the game early in the second half.
First, Adam Milner touched down from dummy half, and then Kirk Dixon touched down a Liam Finn kick to the corner. That came from a Shenton break and soon afterwards Finn scored himself after another Shenton break to given the Tigers a 32-12 victory after 53 minutes.
The Giants refused to lie down, however, and replied with two tries from Joe Wardle and Chris Bailey, which, with Cudjoe converting both to reduce the deficit to eight points.
Frankie Mariano then forced his way over from close to the Giants’ line, but Eorl Crabtree replied for the Giants.
But the Giants couldn’t sustain their fightback and it was Grant Millington who scored the final try for the Tigers from Finn’s pass, and Sneyd’s conversion completed the scoring.
A full report, photos and analysis will feature in Monday’s edition of Rugby League Express.
