Leeds Rhinos’ play-off prospects were dealt a major blow after this latest defeat which saw Castleford Tigers reignite their hopes of a top-six finish.
A little over two months ago, aristocratic Leeds hammered Castleford 60-6 at Wheldon Road but Daryl Powell’s men, who love nothing more than beating their big-city neighbours, turned the tables here with a thoroughly merited victory.
It was a curious game, not least because the Rhinos fashioned a glut of chances during the opening quarter but were not clinical enough to make them pay.
Castleford, not suddenly but systematically, grew into the match and registered only their second win in nine Super League games.
Greg Eden, the Tigers winger who making his first appearance since May, touched down in both halves as the Rhinos’ inconsistencies came back to haunt them again.
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Leeds were not helped by the early loss to concussion of King Vuniyayawa, the Fijian prop, to concussion and Liam Sutcliffe, the stand-off, who suffered a recurrence of a knee problem and was forced off at half-time.
The Rhinos have won a record eight Super League titles but, Richard Agar, the head coach, admitted: “It was a poor performance from us with both sides of the ball.
“Our execution was poor, our selection was off, and our finishing wasn’t where it needed to be. Castleford’s scrambling defence was terrific, but in the first 15 minutes we had so many opportunities.
“They just didn’t have to work hard enough for their tries. In attack and defence, we were nowhere near up to it. I was so disappointed because we had no hard nose about us defensively.”
After keeping the Rhinos at bay early on, Eden touched down in the left corner to open the scoring and Peter Mata’utia added a second from Niall Evalds’ deft offload.
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Leeds replied either side of the interval through Rob Lui, who sidestepped past Oliver Holmes to score a neat try, and Ash Handley, who finished off a delightful move in the left corner.
But Jordan Turner and Eden’s second confirmed victory for Castleford before Brad Dwyer and Jimmy Keinhorst traded late scores.
Powell, the Castleford coach, said: “We were just so desperate to win the game. So many of these boys have come back from Covid and it’s so difficult to exercise after that — so this was an incredible win. We were great in lots of areas.”
Leeds: Myler — T Briscoe, Hurrell, Newman, Handley — L Sutcliffe, Lui — Vuniyayawa, Leeming, Thompson, Donaldson, Martin, Tetevano.
Interchanges: Holroyd, Dwyer, Gannon, Smith.
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Castleford: Evalds — Olpherts, Mata’utia, Turner, Eden — O’Brien, Richardson — Smith, McShane, Millington, Holmes, Sene-Lefao, Milner.
Interchanges: Massey, Foster, Matagi, Keinhorst.
Referee: Ben Thaler (RFL).
