Leeds Rhinos 24 Castleford Tigers 26

A disappointing Magic Weekend saw Leeds Rhinos concede two late tries to lose out 26-24 to Castleford Tigers at Newcastle’s St James’ Park.

With a slender two point lead at half time, tries from Rhyse Martin and Mikolaj Oledzki looked to have put Leeds in the driving seat early in the second half but Alex Mellor and Jason Qareqare turned the tables to get the Tigers the win.

The Rhinos ran out in their tartan kit inspired by the late Doddie Weir, who played part of his Rugby Union career in Newcastle with the Falcons, and his battle with Motor Neurone Disease. For the matchday team, Rohan Smith recalled Blake Austin and James Bentley from injury, as well as Luis Roberts for his fourth appearance of the season. Mikolaj Oledzki came off the bench for Tom Holroyd, who was ruled out in the warm up, whilst Harry Newman’s injury saw Rhyse Martin move into the centres and James Donaldson start at second row. 

Leeds hit the front within four minutes when Derrell Olpherts got his second try of the season. Early pressure from Rohan Smith’s side paid off when Gareth Widdop dropped a high bomb, giving the Rhinos the ball back. Moving within striking range, a good combination of passes led to the returning Blake Austin firing a ball over the top for Olpherts, who walked in untouched.

Despite Leeds pushing for more points from an inspired run from Nene Macdonald, the Tigers responded through Jordan Turner, who cut the Rhinos edge open to touch down. Young outside back Elliott Wallis quickly extended the Castleford lead too as he scored down the right flank to take the score to 10-6 after 13 minutes.

Castleford continued to grow into the game, led by Widdop and Jacob Miller, and almost grabbed another score, but good defence from the Rhinos held Kenny Edwards up on further investigation from the video referee. 

In need of a try before half time, Leeds left it late but substitute James Bentley marked his return to the squad with a four pointer. Kicking through on the last tackle, the grubber kick wobbled away from Widdop and into the path of Cam Smith and Bentley, with the latter getting his hand to the ball for an important score. Martin converted to make the half time score 12-10.

Just like in the first half though, Andy Last’s Tigers didn’t lie down and responded through Mellor. With Widdop as the architect, the full back found Mellor, who squeezed his way through a hole between Martin and Olpherts to plant the ball down. 

As the crowd started to rise to an exciting climax, chances went begging for both sides. Macdonald was forced into touch as he tried a run around the outside of the Cas defence, before Wallis was denied a second score by the video referee as he tried an acrobatic finish in the corner. Finally the chance came to Leeds, as a strong run by Bentley saw the back rower manage to get an offload away for Oledzki to charge his way over, taking the Leeds lead to ten points.

The result wasn’t to be though for Smith’s side, who conceded two late tries. Mellor grabbed his second against his former club with a drive for the line, before a wide move saw winger Qareqare get the ball down to give the Tigers a 26-24 win.