Leigh hammer Castleford to reinforce play-off bid

Betfred Super League

Castleford (6) 12

Tries: Hall, Milnes Goals: Milnes 2

Leigh (18) 34

Tries: O'Donnell, Charnley, Amone 2, O'Brien, Leutele Goals: Moylan 5

Leigh Leopards moved up to fourth in Super League with a show of power and poise at Castleford Tigers.

Both sets of players formed a guard of honour to recognise Paul McShane’s final home game for the Tigers, but that was the limit of the Leopards’ generosity as they made it nine wins from their past 10 games to reinforce their play-off bid.

Josh Charnley’s try in his 300th Super League appearance was part of a procession by the visitors as Tom Amone scored a brace, and Kai O’Donnell, Gareth O’Brien and Ricky Leutele also went over.

Cas, with just pride to play for, hit back through Corey Hall and Rowan Milnes but also lost both Cain Robb and Alex Mellor with head injuries.

The only blot on another fabulous night for Adrian Lam’s team was a yellow card for key man John Asiata, just back from a ban, which means he could miss next week’s showdown with Hull KR.

The 2020 Man of Steel McShane received a rapturous send-off from fans at The Jungle as his 10 years of service draws to an end, but there was no fairytale ending as Leigh had the game won by half-time.

Four Leigh Leopards tackler wrap up Castleford Tigers full-back Tex Hoy

Lachlan Lam’s 24th try assist in 24 games sent Kai O’Donnell haring away to open the scoring, and then Charnley bagged his 16th try of the season with a typically lethal finish.

Cas hit back as Hall brilliantly grabbed the ball as it bounced high from Milnes’ grubber kick to touch down, but from the restart Muizz Mustapha spilled the ball to present Amone with a gift that stretched the visitors’ lead to 12 points at the break.

Leigh were fired up at the start of the second half as O’Brien dummied to feed Charnley, who then twice went close to grabbing the try that would have drawn him level with Danny Maguire as the second-highest Super League try scorer.

Cas teenager Jenson Windley was sin-binned for a late, high tackle on O'Brien and in his absence Amone raced through a gap from Asiata’s neat pass to score.

Leutele added another minutes later after he exchanged passes with Matt Moylan, who kicked five conversions.

Leigh’s one setback came as Asiata caught Joe Westerman off the ball. He received a yellow card but could face a ban when the disciplinary committee meets next week.

Cas finished strongly and Milnes went under the posts to round off the scoring, converting his own try.

Leigh head coach Adrian Lam:

"It's been a long, difficult season, but the way we have played the last 12 weeks has been outstanding.

"It's a real credit to the players, sticking together. Nothing's guaranteed. We've still got two games to go and anything can happen there.

"It looks like it's going to come down to the last game (for the play-offs), so I'm just pleased we've put ourselves in a position to give it a crack."

"It's always a difficult place to come to and we knew they were going to be emotionally connected tonight as well with 'Shane' leaving and it being his last home game."

Castleford boss Craig Lingard:

"There were some individual skill-based errors. Kicking the ball straight out from kick-off is bad enough once, but to do it twice is not good enough.

"We've talked about this season being a massive learning curve for us and that's what it is.

"What's frustrating and disappointing is we had a massive crowd down here and we didn't do the occasion justice in Macca's last home game.

"What he's done in the game is fantastic and he's at peace with his decision. It's on his terms."

Castleford captain Paul McShane told BBC Radio West Yorkshire:

"This club made me as a player and I grew up into a man here. At the start of my career I bounced about a little bit but found a home here and a lot of it is down to the fans, they give you an extra lift when you're in front of them.

"There's nothing set in stone at the minute. I'm going to take a month off and just see what happens."

Castleford: Hoy, Qareqare, Hooley, Hall, Senior, Milnes, Windley, Watts, McShane, Westerman, Mellor, El-Zakhem, Hill.

Interchanges: Lawler, Mustapha, Robb, Hindmarsh.

Sin-bin: Windley (58).

Leigh: Moylan, Charnley, Leutele, Hanley, McIntosh, O'Brien, Lam, Amone, Davis, Mulhern, O'Donnell, Halton, Asiata

Interchanges: Trout, Pene, Hughes, Dwyer.

Sin-bin: Asiata (61).

Referee: Aaron Moore.