Betfred Super League
Castleford (16) 36
Tries: Ravalawa, Golding, Qareqare 2, Asi, Ashworth Goals: Weaver 6
Leeds (20) 34
Tries: McDonnell 2, Edgell, Croft 2, Sivo, Holroyd Goals: Connor 3
Castleford Tigers completed an extraordinary comeback to beat league leaders Leeds Rhinos 36-34 in a thrilling West Yorkshire derby.
In one of the matches of the season, the Tigers came from 16 points down to claim just their second victory in seven matches as the Rhinos missed the opportunity to go four points clear at the top of the Super League.
A see-saw battle provided 13 tries as the final whistle was greeted by huge cheers at a red-hot OneBore Stadium as the Tigers moved above fellow Yorkshire clubs York Knights and Bradford Bulls up to 10th.
Maika Sivo scored one of the best tries of the Super League season – one of four Rhinos tries in the first half – but his side went down to just their fourth league defeat in 19 games this season.
Leeds received kick-off and opened the scoring after 60 seconds when James McDonnell ran through Joe Stimson to crash over on the attacking right edge.
In a dreadful start to the match for the home side, Castleford were penalised for offside and Jake Connor slotted an easy two points before Alfie Edgell collected a loose ball to dot down his first league try of the season with the hosts’ appeals for a forward pass falling on deaf ears as Connor nailed the conversion.
Leeds grabbed a third try inside the first 15 minutes when Daejarn Asi’s kick was closed down by McDonnell and Brodie Croft ran over half the length of the field to score as boos began to ring around some parts of the stadium.
Castleford got on the scoreboard when Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e’s sharp cut-out pass was well taken over his shoulder by Mikaele Ravalawa who crashed over under pressure from two Rhinos players in the right corner.
Moments later came the best try of the game as winger Sivo took a high-hanging ball, danced past two challenges and bounced off Tom Weaver to race 80 metres clear and touchdown Rhinos’ fourth try with an outstanding individual effort.
A worrying moment came in the 33rd minute as Leeds hooker Daniel Levi suffered a serious-looking injury and had to be stretchered off needing oxygen with it being revealed later that he had regained consciousness on the way to hospital.
When play restarted after about 15 minutes, Asi found Ashton Golding to score Castleford’s second to the right of the sticks as Weaver kicked the extra two.
Momentum began to shift towards the home side as Alex Mellor’s wonderful offload put Jason Qareqare in the clear and the winger finished brilliantly in the left corner. Weaver nailed the conversion from the touchline to reduce the deficit to four points at half-time.