Castleford 66-10 Leeds: Rampant Tigers thrash Rhinos

Match Stats

Castleford tries: Eden (3, 23, 70), Minikin (12, 16, 36), McMeeken (33), Hardaker (44), McShane (48), Webster (60), Gale (72), Shenton (76)
Penalties/Conversions: Gale (12, 33, 36, 44, 48, 60, 70, 72, 76) 

Leeds tries: Mullally (52), Moon (78)
Penalties/Conversions: Sutcliffe (52) 

Match Report

Castleford continued their blazing start to the season with a 66-10 rout of Leeds to go top of the Betfred Super League.

Wingmen Greg Minikin and Greg Eden both grabbed hat-tricks as the in-form Tigers ran in 12 tries to two against their patched-up opponents to claim a fifth successive win over their big city rivals.

This was their biggest ever win over the Rhinos, eclipsing their 52-12 triumph at Headingley last May, much to the delight of the bulk of the sell-out crowd of 11,500 at the Jungle.

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Scrum-half Luke Gale contributed 22 points with a try and nine goals while full-back Zak Hardaker, who is on a season-long loan from Leeds, inevitably scored and impressed against his parent club.

Leeds had a full pack missing because of injury and suspension while scrum-half Rob Burrow pulled out on the day of the game through illness, forcing coach Brian McDermott to hurriedly recall Jordan Lilley from his loan spell with Bradford.

Castleford were forced to play hooker Paul McShane at stand-off in the absence of Rangi Chase through suspension and Ben Roberts through injury but it was little inconvenience as he slotted into a well-oiled machine that is scoring tries at will, largely through its wingers.

Denny Solomona, now plying his trade in rugby union with Sale, got the bulk of his record 42 tries for Castleford on the left wing in 2016 but this year the Tigers are lethal on both edges, with Mininkin and Eden responsible for 12 of their team's 25 tries in the first three rounds.

Leeds were a shambles throughout the first half, with handling errors directly creating the position for their opponents to score three of their first four tries.

Hardaker got Eden over for the first just two minutes after full-back Ashton Golding lost the ball in the tackle 10 metres from his own line and McShane was heavily involved in the next three tries.

He supplied key passes for Minikin to go over twice in five minutes before stealing the ball from Ashton on halfway to set up the position for Eden to finish off a another crisp passing movement for his second.

Minikin then provided the final pass for second rower Mike McMeeken to go over following a break out defence by Hardaker but the best try came on the stroke of half-time, with Gale accepting an offload on halfway by Junior Moors to race clear and kick to the corner for the right winger to pick up and dive over for his third try.

Gale's third conversion made it 30-0 at the break and it took the home side just three minutes of the second half to add to their tally.

Lilley's failed interception attempt gifted Castleford another dangerous attacking position and Gale got Hardaker through a gap for his side's seventh try before another Leeds old boy, McShane, exploited more shoddy defensive work for their eighth.

Gale extended the lead to 42-0 before Leeds substitute Anthony Mullally hacked forward a loose ball near the Castleford line and dived on the ball to claim a consolation try, which was goaled by Liam Sutcliffe.

It proved to be little more than a minor irritation for the rampant Tigers, however, as centre Jake Webster charged through a threadbare defence and Eden completed his hat-trick before Gale and skipper Michael Shenton added further tries in the last 10 minutes.

The final whistle came as a merciful relief to the Rhinos, although they had the dubious distinction of scoring the final try through centre Joel Moon.

Match Reaction

Castleford coach Daryl Powell on his side's display: "We were really good tonight. Obviously Leeds are in a tough patch, having lost a few troops. For us, there is so much good going on with the team at the moment. 

"Individually they are playing at the top of their game and the maturity of the team has come through and is showing at the moment. We are playing in a tradition here, it's a team that's been called classy Cas and hopefully we can do something special and leave a legacy."

On Greg Minikin, Greg Eden and Zak Hardaker: "Minikin looks lightning, Hardaker speaks for himself and Eden is a great acquisition," Powell said. "I really like watching them play, they are so quick and back themselves.

"Our pack is looking good, the second-half management of the game by Luke Gale was outstanding and I thought Paul McShane complemented him well, he's such a clever footballer."

Leeds head coach Brian McDermott on their heaviest Super League defeat: "There is no simple answer. As crazy as it might sound, I didn't think we were that bad in the first half. We were not miles off, I just think Castleford were white hot. You can pick fault in some of their tries but they were brilliant.

"In the second half we clearly played without momentum and belief and we got rattled and made far too many defensive errors. The lack of possession began to take its toll."

On Leeds' injury problems: "It had a bearing for sure. But you'd like to put our Under-19s out there and not get beat by that scoreline. Everybody's pride is hurting. You have got to ask some serious questions but that's one of the best offensive performances I've seen.

"They zinged the ball across the field and Luke Gale tore us apart. I've been a player and coach in every year of Super League and I can't remember a more clinical performance.

"I can't see anybody touching them if they play like that."