Leeds Rhinos brought a two-game losing streak to an abrupt end as they took apart Castleford Tigers in a commanding 32-4 win in front of a packed AMT Headingley crowd.
Rhyse Martin’s two tries saw the man of the match lead the scoring for Rohan Smith’s side, plus Ash Handley, Matt Frawley and Brodie Croft also added tries to down their local rivals.
Rohan Smith made a handful of changes to his side for the visit of the Tigers. Alfie Edgell and Paul Momirovski recovered from injuries to make sure their names were in the starting 13 and they partnered up on the left edge. Matty Russell was ruled out through concussion protocol, and Luis Roberts was named 18th man in their place. Two changes in the forward pack too saw French internationals Justin Sangare and Mickael Goudemand swap places as Goudemand started alongside Mikolaj Oledzki, and Corey Johnson came off the bench for his second appearance of the season in place of Andy Ackers.
1st Half
A bright start from the Rhinos almost saw them score in the opening five minutes with skipper Cameron Smith. A high bomb from Matt Frawley looked to come out of Jason Qareqare’s grasp and into the path of Smith, who touched down. On review from the video referee, Harry Newman was judged to have got a hand to the ball to force it out of Qareqare so the try was disallowed.
It was only a matter of time for the Rhinos though as off the back of a dropped ball from Tigers winger Innes Senior, Ash Handley finished off a well-designed scrum play in the corner to make the score 6-0 after 11 minutes.
Keeping the pressure on a Cas side that never quite settled into the first half, the Rhinos added a second try through Brodie Croft. Pinning the Tigers once again on their own try line after ill-discipline from the visitors, Croft showed great footwork to cut back inside Liam Horne and touch down under the posts for his second try in successive home games.
The chances kept coming as the Tigers struggled to hold onto the Rhinos’ coat-tails. Smith came close again as the captain bounced off attempted tackles before being brought up short. Off the back of the attempt, a cross-field switch looked set to deliver more points for Leeds, but Mikolaj Oledzki couldn’t hold onto James McDonnell’s offload.
Before the half could expire, the Rhinos added two more points to their tally as Rhyse Martin wisely chose to kick a penalty goal as Justin Sangare was stripped of the ball by Joe Westerman. The PNG international was good from in front of the posts, making the half time score 14-0.
2nd Half
Leeds weren’t waiting around at the start of the second half as within two minutes, Matt Frawley found his way over the try line to get his first try since the win over Leigh
The half back quickly turned into a try assister as he fed Martin on a direct short pass for the back-rower to get his first of the afternoon; he added the conversion too to make the score 26-0 with 30 minutes to go.
As the atmosphere and conditions continued to heat up, Castleford got a consolation effort through Elie El-Zakhem, who finished off a sweeping move to make sure the visitors didn’t leave scoreless.
The Rhinos were quick to respond again as Martin added his second of the game to give Leeds the league points. From a scrum on the Castleford 40, Smith and Croft showed great handling to move the ball in-field, and Croft found Martin charging onto his pass for the Leeds man to race into the backfield, beat Tex Hoy and score under the posts. Adding his 20th point of the game, Martin hit the conversion home to give Leeds a vital two points in the league standings.
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