Eden magic trick a treat for Tigers
DARYL POWELL’S biggest problem last night was finding the superlatives to do justice to Castleford’s stunning second-half performance in a 29-18 win over Leeds.
He need not have bothered. In racking up a sixth straight win over Leeds in the final game of the 11th Magic Weekend at St James’ Park, the performance of Powell’s players spoke far louder than any words their head coach could muster.
After a tense first half that ended 6-6, the Super League leaders underlined their title pedigree with a masterful display after the break which harvested a hat-trick for winger Greg Eden.
Yesterday’s crowd at St James’ Park was 30,046 and the aggregate weekend attendance of 65,047 was the third highest in Magic Weekend history.
It was the first meeting between the West Yorkshire rivals since the Tigers destroyed Leeds 66-10 in early March at Wheldon Road.
The result marked the Rhinos’ heaviest Super League defeat and prompted some serious soul-searching at Headingley.
Leeds have responded well to that setback and, after Kallum Watkins’ try cancelled out Luke Gale’s early opener, they were right in the game at the break.
Yet Castleford then upped the tempo with devastating effect as Eden scored two tries in three minutes, applying the finishing touch to fine handling sequences at the Gallowgate End.
Tom Holmes then scampered clear from 80 metres to score and Eden completed his treble with aplomb in the 64th minute.
Super League’s leading scorer now has 18 tries in this season’s competition – a rich tribute to his side’s attacking prowess – and his overall season tally is 21 tries in 15 appearances.
Powell said: “It was a great contest and the boys were quiet at half-time because they knew they were in a game.
“Paul McShane won us the energy battle in the second half and there were some great pieces of class and skill from our left edge to score the tries we did. The whole 17 played really well.
“If you get hammered like Leeds did against us in round three, they are going to come back and have a go. It was in the balance at half-time but we played really well in the second half and deserved the win.”
Leeds counterpart Brian McDermott said: “It was a great contest and we’re clearly not good enough to beat Castleford just yet – but let’s see where we are at the end of the year.”
In yesterday’s other games, Salford moved up to second with a 36-22 victory over Leigh, who were a man down for 25 minutes after Adam Higson was sent off for a dangerous tackle.
Greg Johnson and Ben Murdoch-Masila scored two tries each for the Reds.
Late tries from Sam Rapira and Adam O’Brien helped Huddersfield overcome Catalans 18-10.