Tigers late tries not enough at Magic Weekend.

It was Castleford and Huddersfield who closed out Magic Weekend at Elland Road. The game began with a huge roar from the Tigers faithful who were loud and proud in the North Stand.

Tex Hoy got the final game of the day underway with a high kick which was collected by Tui Lolohea to kick start the clash. 

Huddersfield hit first through Sam Halsall as he dived over in the corner despite an effort from Corey Hall. A slow start for the Tigers as they were six points behind after five minutes.

Jake Connor had his kicking boots on as his successful conversion from the touchline was followed up with a 40/20 minutes later. This led to another opportunity down the left side, but an offload couldn’t be taken by Esan Marsters.

Cas had their first attacking chance down the left edge, but a Jacob Miller pass couldn’t be taken by Tex Hoy and the ball spilled into touch.

Huddersfield put themselves even further in front when Leroy Cudjoe burst through the line whilst shrugging off Elie El Zakhem, his offload found Sam Hewitt who comfortably fell over the line.

Cas came close within twenty minutes played when Joe Westerman’s pass on the the last found Alex Mellor but the off the cuff rugby wasn’t enough for Cas to get back in the game.

Tui Lolohea was sent to the bin for a high shot on Jacob Miller, the forearm contact to the head was enough for Aaron Moore to penalise Tui Lolohea.

Harry Rushton was inches away from putting the Giants even further ahead but a quality tackle from Tex Hoy with only a few minutes to play in the first half kept Huddersfield out.

A poor first half performance from Craig Lingard’s men as they went into break tweleve points down and scoreless, plenty of improvement was needed in the second half to get back in the game.

The poor display continued into the second half when Esan Marsters got himself over a walk-in try when Jason Qareqare lost the ball in the air from a Oliver Russell high kick into the corner.

Huddersfield had their second yellow card of the day as Fenton Rogers swinging arm hit Sylvester Namo above the shoulders, Cas looked to take advantage of this moments later but an error from Elie El Zakhem gave Huddersfield possession once again.

After coming close multiple times Cas finally got themselves on the board with just over twenty minutes to play. A lobbed pass out wide to Jason Qareqare allowed the Fiji international to acrobatically dive into the corner.

The game was in the balance with fifteen minutes to play, both sides battling it out despite the Fords being twelve points down they were well in the game.

Cas put themselves back into the game with just over ten minutes to play when Liam Horne’s kick out wide found Jason Qareqare who dived over for his second of the evening.

Muizz Mustapha’s hit unfortunately allowed Huddersfield to finish the game off through Jake Connor as he took the two-point 

conversion in front of the posts.

It was another close call for the Fords but unfortunately Cas were on the losing side at Magic Weekend against Huddersfield which makes the Giants the most successful team in Magic Weekend history.

FULL TIME SCORE: CASTLEFORD TIGERS 12 – 20 HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS

Castleford Tigers: Tex Hoy, Jason Qareqare, Corey Hall, Will Tate, Innes Senior, Rowan Milnes, Jacob Miller, Muizz Mustapha, Liam Horne, Daniel Hindmarsh-Takyi, Elie El-Zakhem, Alex Mellor, Joe Westerman.

Interchanges: Liam Watts, Sylvester Namo, Brad Martin, George Hill.

Tries: Qareqare X2

Conversions: Milnes x2

Huddersfield Giants: Jake Connor, Jake Bibby, Esan Marsters, Kevin Naiqama, Sam Halsall, Tui Lolohea, Oliver Russell, Chris Hill, Adam Milner, Andre Savelio, Harry Rushton, Sam Hewitt, Leroy Cudjoe.

Interchanges: Matty English, Seb Ikahihifo, Fenton Rogers, Kieran Rush.

Tries: Halsall, Hewitt, Marsters

Conversions: Connor x3

Penalty Goal: Connor

Sin Bin: Lolohea, Rogers