Leeds Rhinos 24 Castleford Tigers 25: Leeds' revival falls short as Cas dig in to claim derby spoils

Leeds Rhinos' Ash Handley dives in to score his side's second try.

WHAT BEGAN as a rout turned into a sensational thriller at Elland Road last night.

Castleford Tigers gained a small measure of revenge for last year’s Betfred Super League Grand Final defeat with a 25-24 win, but Leeds staged a remarkable rally.

Cas scored at a point per minute in the opening 24,but Leeds scored 24 of the next 25, Luke Gale’s drop goal on the stroke of half-time, which made it 25-10, proving the difference.

Leeds scored five tries to four and Watkins had a touchline conversion attempt to win it two minutes from time, but could not find the target.

Castleford Tigers' Mike McMeeken (right) tackles Leeds Rhinos' Joel Moon.

Over the last few years it’s been clear that if Cas are below-par, Rhinos can match or outplay them. The second half of last year’s Super-8s clash and the Grand Final were examples and Leeds were the better team, for much of Friday night’s game.

But if Tigers play well, Leeds don’t know how to cope. They were red hot in the opening 24 minutes and Leeds melted, going 24-0 down.

After that, Leeds began to make tackles and played some lovely stuff with the ball. They had a couple of tries disallowed and a player held up over the line twice, so for them it was a case of what might have been.

Overall though, Cas probably deserved the win for the way they played in the opening quarter. They didn’t do a great deal with the ball after that, but didn’t need to.

Leeds Rhinos' Kallum Watkins dives in to score his side's first try

Leeds’ win at Saints a week earlier was built on a gritty determination to hang on when the opposition looked ready to roll over them.

Tigers’ didn’t given them the chance. Playing at a higher level from the first set, they pulverised Leeds in the opening exchanges.

Leeds looked like frightened rabbits as Gale and Jamie Ellis kicked them to death and the way Tigers kept the ball alive was a flashback to last season’s best form.

Ex-Leeds men Alex Foster and Paul McShane were impressive early on and Greg Minikin and Junior Moors also made an impact.

Rhinos were unchanged from the win at Saints. Brad Dwyer is now fit after a rib injury, but had to settle for 18th man duties.

Jack Walker came on after Cas’ fourth try, in place of Matt Parcell, with Ashton Golding moving to hooker. Leeds looked better for that change, though the damage had already been done.

Jack Ormondroyd – who was in the initial 19-man squad – is set to play on dual-registration for Featherstone Rovers at Batley Bulldogs tomorrow, along with Leeds’ young centre Harry Newman.

Leeds were still without Liam Sutcliffe (ankle), Adam Cuthbertson (hand), Stevie Ward (calf), Mitch Garbutt (knee), Brett Ferres (knee), Jimmy Keinhorst (knee) and Nathaniel Peteru (biceps).

But Tigers also fielded a side which was a long way below full-strength, without captain Michael Shenton who was unavailable.

Oliver Holmes and new signing Liam atts were both suspended and Jesse Sene-Lefao underwent surgery to repair knee damage during the week, joining shoulder injury victims Greg Eden and Joe Wardle on the casualty list.

In changes to the side which beat Salford Red Devils two weeks ago, Jy Hitchcox came in on the right-wing and Minikin moved to centre. Adam Milner stepped up off the bench to start at loose-forward and Moors and Jake Trueman returned among the substitutes.