Betfred Super League, Round 25
Mend-A-Hose Jungle, Friday 6 September 2024
Castleford Tigers 12-34 Leigh Leopards
Leopards’ incredible late season charge gathered further momentum with their ninth win in ten Betfred Super League games on an emotional evening at a packed Mend-A-Hose Jungle.
Tom Amone celebrated his 100th career appearance with a two-try haul, and Matt Moylan passed 50 goals for the season in the Leopards’ clinical performance.
Tigers farewelled former Man of Steel Paul McShane, playing his last home game before retiring at the end of the season but there was no fairytale ending for one of the outstanding players in the history of Super League.
Both teams gave McShane a guard of honour before the game and stayed on the pitch afterwards for presentations to the Tigers no9 and his family.
Leopards’ win at the Jungle last season was their first on Castleford soil for 35 years. Now they’ve won on each of their last three visits which underlines the scale of the achievement.
Around 1,000 Leopards supporters braved motorway hold-ups and the Friday night traffic to cheer on their favourites and ‘Be the Roar’ in a 9,000 plus crowd.
On a warm and sultry evening, the work-rate and physicality of the Leopards’ pack set the benchmark.
The visitors made a dominant start with Kai O’Donnell opening the scoring with as good a try as any second row forward could score.
When Lachlan Lam slipped the ball on halfway, O’Donnell was at full pace as he burst through two defenders and rounded the fullback for a memorable score.
Robbie Mulhern’s rampaging run then set up the momentum for Josh Charnley’s brilliant finish on the last tackle. Somehow the Leopards winger weaved his way through half a dozen players before stretching over.
Tigers responded with a Corey Hall try in the corner following a precise kick from Rowan Milnes, whose growing maturity as a Super League halfback is one of the plus points from their season.
But Muizz Mustapha lost the ball in Brad Dwyer’s tackle on the restart and Amone swooped to mark his century in style.
Leopards survived an anxious time at the restart as Amone lost possession in Mustapha’s crunching tackle but the excellent defence that has marked their performances in the last three months saved the day.
18-6 ahead at the break, Leopards took the game away from the hosts with a three-try scoring burst.
Gareth O’Brien brilliantly joined the attack to cut through and score on the last tackle from Lam’s pass.
Charnley had a brilliant finish ruled out by the video referee for a foot in touch in the build-up before Jenson Windley’s yellow card for a high tackle left Tigers shorthanded.
Leopards made them pay, Amone plunging over for his second from Asiata’s astute drop-off pass. Then Ricky Leutele worked a superb blindside move with Moylan to take the Tigers defence by surprise.
Asiata’s yellow card left the Leopards down to 12 for ten minutes. During that spell Milnes went over by the side of the posts from Mustapha’s pass but Leopards regrouped and comfortably saw out the rest of an entertaining game.
Owen Trout also celebrated his 100th game while Dwyer and O’Brien will next week be preparing for their respective 300th games as Hull KR visit the Leopards Den.
Leopards
6 Matt Moylan; 34 Darnell McIntosh, 24 Umyla Hanley, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Josh Charnley; 1 Gareth O’Brien, 7 Lachlan Lam; 8 Tom Amone, 15 Matt Davis, 10 Robbie Mulhern, 11 Kai O’Donnell, 16 Frankie Halton, 13 John Asiata
Bench:
12 Jack Hughes, 17 Owen Trout, 33 Brad Dwyer, 35 Aaron Pene. 18th man (not used) 20 Oliver Holmes
Tries:
O’Donnell (8), Charnley (15), Amone (35, 53), O’Brien (45), Leutele (55)
Goals:
Moylan 5/ 6
Sin bin:
Asiata (61)
Tigers
34 Tex Hoy; 23 Jason Qareqare, 1 Luke Hooley, 35 Corey Hall, 5 Innes Senior; 16 Rowan Milnes, 38 Jenson Windley; 8 Liam Watts, 9 Paul McShane, 13 Joe Westerman (capt), 12 Alex Mellor, 11 Elie El-Zakhem, 29 George Hill
Bench:
10 George Lawler, 20 Muizz Mustapha, 24 Cain Robb, 37 Daniel Hindmarsh. 18th player (not used): 31 Fletcher Rooney
Tries:
Hall (35), Milnes (63)
Goals:
Milnes 2/ 2
Sin Bin:
Windley (52)
Scoring sequence: 0-6, 0-12, 6-12, 6-18 (ht) 6-22, 6-28, 6-34, 12-34
Referee: Aaron Moore; Touch judges: G Jones & M Horton; Video referee: Liam Moore; Time keeper: S Williams; M Com: M Hebblethwaite;
Attendance: 9,053
Penalty count: 4-6
GLDO: 0-1
