Super League: Leigh Leopards 30-6 Castleford Tigers
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Leigh scored 24 unanswered second-half points
Betfred Super League |
|---|
Leigh (6) 30 |
Tries: Reynolds, O'Donnell, Seumanufagai, Leutele, Davis Goals: Reynolds 5 |
Castleford (6) 6 |
Try: Westerman Goal: Widdop |
Leigh Leopards produced a dominant second half to comfortably see off Castleford at Leigh Sports Village.
Tigers scored the opening try through loose forward Joe Westerman but Ben Reynolds quickly replied for the hosts.
The sides went to the break level at 6-6 but Leigh took control in the second half, running in four tries.
Kai O'Donnell put them in front before prop Ava Seumanufagai got their third, with Ricky Leutele making the game safe and Matt Davis applying the gloss.
It was Leigh's first victory over Castleford since 1987, with 12 defeats and a draw since.
This was a third consecutive win, and sixth of the campaign, which moves the Leopards up to sixth in Super League, two points outside the top four.
After falling behind to Waterman's 14th-minute try, a line break brought them to within 10 yards of the Cas tryline and stand-off Reynolds scored on the next play.
But it took until the second half to shrug the Tigers off.
Robbie Mulhern made a line break that resulted in a goalline drop out, from which Australian O'Donnell powered his way over.
Seumanufagai's try gave Leigh breathing room before Lachlan Lam grubbered perfectly in-goal for Australian centre Leutele to touch down.
Davies rounded off another great night for Leigh with their fifth try five minutes from time.
For Castleford it was a third straight defeat and ninth loss of the campaign as they stay second-bottom of the table.
Leigh coach Adrian Lam told BBC Radio Manchester:
"I thought the second half was seamless for us, really controlled.
"The first half was frustrating at times but we're learning how to play ugly and win as well.
"We had too many errors but you get that when you have a week off and we were a little rusty, but I was pleased the way we responded in the second half."
Castleford coach Andy Last:
"It was a game of two halves. It was a close contest and we didn't convert some chances in the first half. That proved costly and we spoke at half-time about playing with more control.
"In the second half Leigh dominated us physically and we played too much one-out rugby. Leigh dominated field position and it was a really disappointing second half from us.
"We are just not dealing with the questions teams are asking us. I thought Leigh's key players really stepped up for them and came up with some significant plays. We have got to get off the canvas, speak some home truths and make sure we learn from what happened last week."
Leigh: O'Brien, Briscoe, Leutele, Hardaker, Charnley, Reynolds, Lam, Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, Holmes, O'Donnell, Asiata.
Interchanges: Mellor, Seumanufagai, Wilde, Davis.
Castleford: Evalds, Faraimo, Broadbent, Turner, Wallis, Widdop, Miller, Lawler, McShane, Massey, Edwards, Milner, Westerman.
Interchanges: Griffin, Mellor, Robb, Hall.
Referee: Aaron Moore.