Super League Magic Weekend: Castleford Tigers 29-18 Leeds Rhinos

Greg Eden is Super League's leading try scorer after 14 games with 17 tries in 2017

Greg Eden scored a second-half hat-trick to set Super League leaders Castleford up for a hard-fought win over Leeds in the Magic Weekend finale.

Luke Gale opened the scoring for Tigers, collecting the ball after his high kick was spilled, and after Kallum Watkins hit back with a try, Liam Sutcliffe made it 6-6 with a penalty.

Eden's treble and Tom Holmes' score put Castleford 28-6 up after 64 minutes.

Joel Moon and Sutcliff then went over for Leeds, but it was not enough.

Victory restored Castleford's two-point lead at the top of the table after Salford moved equal with them following a convincing win earlier in the day at St James' Park. Defeat leaves Leeds fourth in the table, four points adrift of the summit.

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In a tense first half, the penalty to restore parity before the break summed up the drama, with play brought back and Sutcliffe teed up for the two points after Eden's near length-of-the-field try was disallowed for obstruction.

For Eden, it meant simply waiting to get the first try of his treble and what would be his second hat-trick against Leeds this season, with the winger grabbing three against them in their record 66-10 win in round three.

The pick of his tries was the second on 50 minutes, with a sublime behind-the-back flick pass from Michael Shenton sending him clear in the left corner.

The try came during a devastating 18-minute spell by the competition pacesetters and was the highlight on a day that attracted 30,046, which took the Magic Weekend tally to 65,407.

Castleford Tigers: Hardaker; Minikin, Webster, Shenton, Eden; T Holmes, Gale; Lynch, McShane, Millington, Sene-Lefao, McMeeken, Milner.

Replacements: Massey, Moors, Cook, Foster.

Leeds Rhinos: Golding; Briscoe, Watkins, L Sutcliffe, Hall; McGuire, Moon; Singleton, Parcell, Cuthbertson, Ferres, Ward, Jones-Buchanan.

Replacements: Burrow, Handley, Delaney, Mullally.

Referee: Phil Bentham.