Danny bows out in style as Tigers are vanquished
Danny McGuire produced the perfect swansong to lead Leeds to a glorious victory last night on his final appearance for his home-town club.
The Rhinos skipper scored two tries, helped create two others for winger Tom Briscoe and landed two drop goals in a man-of-the-match performance as Leeds beat favourites Castleford in front of a sell-out crowd of 72,827 at Old Trafford to secure a recordextending eighth win from 10 Grand Finals.
Castleford dominated the regular season, finishing 10 points clear of the Rhinos, but produced arguably their worst performance in the absence of the suspended Zak Hardaker and finished their best-ever season with only the League Leaders’ Shield to show for their efforts.
It was Leeds’ first Grand Final triumph without former captain Kevin Sinfield, who along with Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai, bowed out on a high two years ago.
Yesterday’s stunning triumph also enabled McGuire and his long-time half-back Rob Burrow to end their Rhinos careers in fitting fashion.
Burrow hung up his boots after the game but McGuire will carry on with promoted Hull KR in 2018 and his stellar performance at Old Trafford demonstrated that, even at 34, he still has much to offer.
Castleford went into the game on the back of eight successive wins over their rivals, four of them this year including a 66-10 rout in round three at the Jungle, but the Rhinos once more demonstrated their ability to rise to the big occasion, even mastering the tricky conditions caused by steady drizzle throughout the game.
Leeds were able to boast no fewer than 42 Super League rings between them, and all their big guns fired.
But they were also indebted to a superb effort by 18-yearold full-back JackWalker, who became the youngest player to win a Grand Final, taking the record from StevieWard on only his 12th senior appearance.
Ward also played his part, just seven days after dislocating his shoulder, and will have caught the eye of England coachWayne Bennett, watching on from Australia as he prepares to name his World Cup squad.
In the difficult conditions, Castleford’s decision not to take early points from penalties within easy kicking range was a surprise and began to look bewildering as Adam Milner, Paul McShane and Eden coughed up the ball in prime attacking positions.
Leeds’ handling was far superior and Briscoe, who looked bereft of confidence two months ago, illustrated their joie de vivre when he leapt above Michael Shenton and Jy Hitchcox to touch down McGuire’s lofted kick and open the scoring on 11 minutes.
KallumWatkins added the goal and the Rhinos centre thought he had added another try six minutes later when he won the race to McGuire’s stabbed kick only for video referee Phil Bentham to rule a knock-on.
As the Tigers gradually began to put their game together, full-back Greg Eden looked all on a certain tryscorer until McGuire managed to force a handling error as he raced for the line and substitute prop Grant Millington went close before being brought back for a forward pass.
Hitchcox was then denied a try for obstruction before the same ruling robbed Briscoe of a second touchdown and the only other score before halftime was a drop goal from McGuire right on the hooter.
Castleford would have settled for a 7-0 deficit but the game quickly went away from them after another errorriddled period early in the second half gave Leeds the impetus to seize total control.
When Eden failed to deal with Joel Moon’s high kick, McGuire swooped to grab an opportunist try and soon afterwards Moon carved out an opening for Briscoe to score his second.
Watkins’ second conversion made it 17-0 and McGuire added a touch of gloss to the victory when he swooped on a handling error by Mike McMeeken to score his second try.
Watkins kicked his third goal and McGuire slotted a second drop goal before former Leeds forward Alex Foster grabbed a consolation try for the Tigers two minutes from the end.