Under 16s secure win over Thunder

The young Tigers got off to the perfect start as the kick off took a touch off a Newcastle hand and went out of play to force a drop out. From that Cas got five metres from the line and Taylor Baddeley spotted Louie Tomlinson in space to dive over. Toby Mallinson couldn’t add the extras from the tee.

It got even better for Cas when Taylor Baddeley produced a sensational step to get passed a Thunder player and he raced through to score. Mallinson was accurate with his conversion.

Just moments later Castleford got their third. Some quick hands opened up some space on the left hand side and Tyler Czmeiduch was the man to dart over. Mallinson’s kick was true again to take it to 16 points to 0.

Thirteen minutes in they stretched their lead even further. A perfectly timed pass from Freddie Brennan-Jones released Woody Walker who raced over. Mallinson added the two points.

Newcastle couldn’t stop the Tigers’ attacking threat as two minutes later Alfie Dean broke the line and handed the ball to Tomlinson to coast home and get his second of the night. Mallinson kicked the conversion once again.

Newcastle tried to respond but some good Cas defence denied them before the hosts scored again. Tomlinson was the provider this time as he went for the line and offloaded to Baddeley and the hooker then passed wide for Hugo Nikhata to score in the corner. Mallinson did well to kick his conversion from the touchline.

On the half hour mark Cas took their advantage to 30 points. Luke Garside smashed through but was stopped before the line, however, Baddeley picked up the ball quickly and scooted over. Mallinson knocked the ball over from in front of the posts.

Thunder did get themselves on the scoreboard with a few minutes to go of the first half. A chipped kick by Tom Siddle on the last found Stephen Bird out wide and the left wing scored to take the scores to 40 points to 4 at the break.

Thunder started the second half strong and they were helped by a lucky bounce to get possession straight back from the kick off. Jack Thompson powered his way over from close in. Shaw kicked the extras.

That got Thunder’s tails up and they got their third score eight minutes into the half. A penalty gave them good field position in front of the Cas line and Siddle ripped a pass out to Alfie Gray who scored in the corner. Shaw missed his conversion.

A couple of errors from Cas gave Thunder some good field position once again. Siddle was starting to pull the strings for the away side and the number showed some quick thinking to score with a grab and go from close in. Shaw was accurate with his kick.

Just over an hour in and the visitors scored again as the game’s momentum had swung. Harry Avis did well to get back to a loose ball but was dragged out of play inside the Cas 20 which got Thunder up the pitch. Siddle passed to Charlie Spedding for the second-row to crash over. Shaw’s conversion was good again. 

Cas managed to stem the flow of Newcastle tries by getting one of their own. A fantastic offload by Brennan-Jones released Baddeley who was on his shoulder to race over from 20 metres out to secure his hat-trick. The hooker took up the kicking duties and slotted his kick. 

Jacob Hall looked clear through to score another for the Tigers but agonisingly knocked on after a superb tap tackle on the line and the match finished 46-26 to the Castleford under 16s.

Full-time: Castleford Tigers U16s 46-26 Newcastle Thunder

Castleford: Booth, Charlesworth, Mallinson, Tomlinson, Ilunga-Nikhata, Green, Whittingham, Walker, Baddley, Brennan-Jones, Dean, Coulson, Czmeiduch 

Interchanges: Avis, Garside, Rooney, Hall, Egley, Docherty, Palinkas 

Tries: Tomlinson x2, Baddeley x3, Czmeiduch, Walker, Nikhata 

Conversions: Mallinson (6/7), Baddeley (1/1)