Young Tigers claim derby win

The Tigers got off to the perfect start after Caelum Jordan just stepped out of play as he tried to go over in the right corner. The ball then came back across the field and it was Josh Milthorpe who punished the Rhinos to open the scoring. However, Adam Rusling’s conversion came up short of the posts.

It got even better for the young Fords as a Rusling kick landed just on the try line and was fumbled by the hosts. The ball was given back to Cas and a lovely flowing move ended with a pass coming out wide to Mackenzie Scurr who acrobatically place the ball over the line. Unfortunately, Rusling could not take advantage from the tee as his conversion came up short.

Cas kept putting on the pressure with just over 20 minutes on the clock. Jack Sadler made a charge for the line but miss handled the ball. Leeds made them pay as a good kick to touch gave them strong field position which enabled Jack Mallinson to score from the resulting set. The scrum half then added the extras to close the scores to 6-8.

Another Fords mishap gave the hosts another opportunity as a high kick was fumbled off a Cas arm. Leeds punished the visitors as a fast-passing move from the right to the left of the pitch eventually found the hands of Levi Edwards to score. Mallinson was accurate with the boot again.

The momentum looked with the Headingley side, although it was Castleford who took back the lead with four minutes to go before half-time. A penalty just outside the 20-metre line gave The Tigers great field position and after a couple of charges to the line it was Adam Rusling who eventually barged over. A change of kicker for the Fords saw Caelum Jordan step up to take the conversion and he slotted the ball through the posts to give them a 12-14 lead at the break.

Cas had the first big scoring chance of the half as an accurate high kick from Sadler was caught brilliantly in the air by a jumping Brad Graham. The centre made a break for the line; however, he was held up by some good defence.

The Tigers then got the first try of the second half as a darting run from Cain Robb got him past a couple of Leeds defenders with just over 5 metres to go to the line. The hooker looked to have been stopped just short but stuck out an arm to put the ball down and extended Castleford’s lead. Jordan made no mistake to add the two points.

Leeds then looked strong as they put the Cas defence under incredible amounts of pressure, and it eventually told. Rhinos put the ball through hands as the Tigers defenders looked tired from all the effort they had put in, and it was Max Simpson with some quick feet on the left to score. Mallinson knocked through the two points from the conversion.

The hosts kept knocking on the door but found the Cas defence in fantastic form with Sam Hall making some big tackles.

Castleford looked to have stretched their lead as some great hands allowed Milthorpe to go over on the near side, but he was denied his second try of the night as the referee called a forward pass in the build-up.

Brad Graham also went close for the hosts as he stepped past his man close in but was denied by a fantastic covering tackle with a few minutes to go.

The closing moments were back and forth but the Tigers held firm and took a brilliant derby victory.

Full-time: Leeds Rhinos U19s 18–20 Castleford Tigers U19s

Castleford: Charlie Harris, Mackenzie Scurr, Caelum Jordan, Brad Graham, Josh Milthorpe, Adam Rusling, Jack Sadler, Sam Hall, Cain Robb, Liam Buffet, Danny Atley, Nathan Magee, Louis Collison

Interchanges: Tom Hazelgrave, Phoenix Tooala, Jacob Harte, Balami Qareqare, Ben Wood

Tries: Milthorpe, Scurr, Rusling, Robb

Conversions: Rusling (0/2), Jordan (2/2)