Leeds make struggling Castleford pay heavy price for their wastefulness

For all the heavy defeats Castleford Tigers have suffered in the opening weeks of the new Super League season, there is an argument this one will sting the most as their wait for a first league victory of 2024 continues.

Even their coach, Craig Lingard, would admit that for the majority of the first five rounds, Castleford have simply not been good enough. They have conceded points at will, been beaten heavily on numerous occasions and it already seems inevitable that a difficult season at the foot of the table lies ahead for the Tigers.

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But for 40 minutes here, their fortunes seemed to have turned for the better. They were much improved against Leeds Rhinos, and were arguably the game’s dominant side. However, the one thing missing from that spirited first-half display in attritional conditions was the one thing that matters most: points on the board. And when the two sides went in scoreless at the break you felt the Rhinos, who had been second-best and been forced to defend their line repeatedly, would make the Tigers pay for their profligacy.

How that proved to be the case, with 20 unanswered points ultimately consigning Castleford to a sixth consecutive defeat to start the league season, while Leeds move to a perfectly respectable four wins from six. There is no doubting that these two sides are on different trajectories this year and as the Rhinos’ spine, led by the outstanding Brodie Croft, continues to click, they will be quietly confident they can compete this season.

The first half was one of almost complete dominance from Castleford, but their attacking issues were all too obvious in crucial moments. Time and time again, they had the ball deep in Leeds territory and were well-placed to strike and break the deadlock, but the Rhinos held them at bay on almost every occasion.

Castleford missed a chance to open the scoring from the kicking tee inside the opening quarter too as Danny Richardson’s penalty hit the post, but even that didn’t shift the momentum in favour of the Rhinos. The visitors were defending their line for large periods of the first half and while their efforts to keep Castleford out were commendable, the attacking play from the hosts was flat and lacking any sort of real cutting edge.

The Rhinos grew into the game after half-time but with the score 0-0 at the interval, it was clear in difficult conditions that Castleford had missed a string of glorious opportunities. And in the opening minutes of the second half, after absorbing all that pressure from the Tigers, Leeds struck a telling blow with arguably their first meaningful foray into Tigers territory to open the scoring against the run of play.

You suspected that if Leeds were to strike, it would be Croft who would be at the heart of it and his pinpoint cross-field kick was eventually grounded by Paul Momirovski. In truth, that try seemed to break Castleford’s spirit and completely shift the momentum in favour of the Rhinos – and six minutes later, they doubled their lead through Momirovski once again. On a night where conditions made attractive rugby difficult, it was the best move of the night which made it 12-0.

Andy Ackers and Croft combined expertly, with Croft’s reverse pass sending James McDonnell free downfield. He then turned the ball on for Momirovski to double his try tally, and give Martin a simple conversion to open up a two-score lead. Martin was then given a straightforward penalty in front of the posts to extend Leeds’ advantage to 14, after a Richardson drop-out went out on the full.

Suddenly, the Tigers had fallen apart: and Leeds were making their pressure pay, unlike the hosts in the first half. Lachie Miller, another who is improving as this season goes on following his arrival from the NRL, then crossed after a pinpoint Croft kick was tapped back by Ash Handley, before the full-back added a second in the final minutes after an imperious break from Croft.

Castleford did at least avoid the ignominy of failing to score in between those two Miller tries with a Josh Simm consolation but by then, the result had long since been decided.