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PA Sport © PA Sporting Life Two-try winger Jon Wells kept alive Castleford's hopes of pipping Leeds for fourth place by ending the Rhino's 13-match winning run. Twelve man Leeds, inspired by skipper Iestyn Harris, recovered from 10-0 down to snatch a 16-10 lead after shrugging off the 14th minute dismissal of Kiwi centre Richie Blackmore But their hopes of completing a hat trick of victories over Castleford this season were wrecked by 21-year-old Wells who celebrated signing a new two-year contract by grabbing the winning try 12 minutes from time. Scrum half Brad Davis was also a big contributor. He was involved in all Castleford's four tries in a victory which put them only four points behind Leeds. In a nail-biting finish to a thrilling clash, Rhinos winger Karl Pratt had a touchdown ruled out by the video referee two minutes form time which would have leveled the scores. The Tigers made a cracking start with a try after 54 seconds by Davis. The Australian scrum-half followed up his own neat kick to grab a touchdown which half back partner Danny Orr improved. Castleford made it 10-0 in the fifth minute when Wells got his first from Davis' superbly weighted kick to the corner. After Blackmore was sent off against his old club for a high tackle on Tigers second row forward Lee Harland, Leeds clawed their way back into the game. Harris kicked a penalty goal and then scored a lovely solo try by dummying his way over from 35 metres. Stand-off Harris narrowed the deficit to two points with a long range penalty goal on the strike of half-time. Leeds went ahead for the first time eight minutes into the second half Harris again showed his class with a delightful break and inch perfect kick to create a try for 36-year-old winger Paul Sterling, super league's oldest player. Harris added a touch line conversion and kicked a penalty goal to put the Rhinos six points ahead. The Tigers struck back in the 58th minute when Davis' kick set up winger Darren Rogers' 16th try of the season. Castleford then struck a vital blow when substitute Barry Eaton and Davis made the opening for Wells to collect his second. Harris hit the post with a 75th minute penalty goal attempt which would have leveled the scores. The Rhinos finished the game with only 11 men after hooker Lee Jackson was sin-binned for a late challenge on Davis. Eaton kicked the resulting penalty to put the Tigers 20-16 up before Pratt had his late effort ruled out. PA Sport © PA Sporting Life Teenage star Lee Greenwood recorded the first tries of his Super League career to keep Castleford waiting on a top five finish. The youngster, who has only made a handful of appearances for his side, helped the Blue Sox establish a commanding lead before the break. He crossed the line for the first time on 20 minutes when Barrie-Jon Mather dropped Brad Davis' huge punt into the right-hand corner for the youngster to scoop up and race the full length of the pitch to score. Then Andrew Dunemann linked with Damian Gibson to send Greenwood through on the left for his second. Youngster Danny Tickle had opened the home side's account earlier when he collected Dunemann's looping pass from the centre to glide through. Dunemann was then involved again in the Blue Sox's second try when he unloaded the ball to Gibson who outpaced Darren Shaw to the line. Then Darryl Cardiss slid in to touch down Dunemann's short kick between the sticks. The visitors finally managed to get off the mark just after Greenwood's first try when Davis went over in the middle. The Tigers mounted a brief fight back soon after the break when Mather found his way through. He tumbled over in the corner under a crowd of players and was soon followed over by Jon Wells. Ian Tonks found Wells with a short pass and he dived over in the corner to close the gap to eight points. But the Blue Sox regained their stranglehold and managed to add two more tries to their huge tally. Gibson collected the ball in his own half and raced down the left before avoiding Jason Flowers' last ditch tackle. Substitute Danny Halliwell had the final say when he reached over on the right to round off the scoring. PA Sport © PA Sporting Life London's dismal run continued with a six-try Super League defeat against Castleford at the Jungle. The Broncos, who have won only five of their 26 league games this season, came back from 20-4 down to make a game of it by reducing the arrears to 20-16 shortly after half-time. But Castleford, with winger Darren Rogers and centre Mike Eagar both scoring two tries, ran out comfortable winners to get the points they needed to make sure of a play-off berth. The Tigers quickly went ahead when Rogers finished a flowing move to score the first of their tries after just 30 seconds. But Castleford failed to build on their flying start, and the Broncos leveled in the 19th minute when centre John Timu went over. The Tigers went back in front in the 27th minute with Eagar's first after captain Adrian Vowles and Aaron Raper created the opening. The hosts struck again two minutes later, Rogers collecting his 18th touchdown of the season following clever work by Danny Orr. Castleford's scoring burst continued when full-back Jason Flowers rounded off a move involving Dean Sampson and Brad Davis. Loose forward Andy Johnson darted over for London's second try three minutes before half-time, and stand-off Peter Lupton added the goal to cut the gap to 10 points. The Broncos started the second half brightly, and winger Dom Peters had a touchdown disallowed for a forward pass. They put themselves only four points behind in the 43rd minute when Glen Air put substitute Paul Davidson in for a try which Lupton again improved. But the Tigers regained control when Lee Harland sent Eagar in for his second after 49 minutes. They sealed victory when hooker Raper set up a 56th-minute score for Vowles which substitute Barry Eaton goaled. Huddersfield/Sheffield 14 Castleford 28 PA Sport © PA Sporting Life Jon Wells ran in with two tries either side of half-time to virtually condemn the Giants to bottom place in Super League for the third successive year. The Giants looked capable of bridging the gap between themselves and fellow strugglers London Broncos when they trailed by only two points before the break until Wells crossed for his second touchdown on 43 minutes. His try opened the floodgates, and Darren Rogers found his way over the line and was followed over by substitute Wayne Pryce to put the game beyond the home side's reach. Huddersfield, watched by new coach Tony Smith, went behind in the third minute when Rogers crossed on the left after collecting a short pass from Aaron Raper. Gene Ngamu bridged the gap when he kicked a penalty between the sticks soon afterwards. The Giants managed to contain Castleford until the 25th minute when Wells scored for the first time. Wells sprinted down the right after avoiding Matt Crowther to convert a Raper kick. But the Giants hit back on 31 minutes when Danny Russell found Darren Turner with a short pass, and he barged his way over with Ngamu adding the extras. Wells' second of the game proved decisive. A short kick from Brad Davis was touched down by his team-mate, and before the Giants could reply Danny Orr kicked a penalty to give the Tigers a further cushion. A superb tackle by Danny Arnold prevented Wells from scoring a hat trick on 54 minutes. But when Rogers ghosted past Paul Reilly the game was put out of the Giants' reach. Then Dale Laughton and Raper were sent to the sin bin by referee John Connolly for fighting. Moments later another short kick from Davis was converted by Pryce, who nipped into the corner to score with the Huddersfield defence left standing. But there was still time for Crowther to score a consolation try after good work by Leroy Rivett. By PA Sport Staff Castleford go into next Saturday's make-or-break play-off semi-final against Leeds Rhinos at Headingley on the back of three straight wins - but Saturday night's victory was not plain sailing against troubled Wakefield. The beleaguered Wildcats gave the Tigers a stiff examination, and only some stubborn defence restricted them to one touchdown - although they did have three tries disallowed for forward passes. Castleford began in stunning style with two tries inside 12 minutes but could not shake off Trinity until Jon Wells scooted over for his second try of the game four minutes from time. London's defeat of Leeds on Friday night gave the Tigers a chance to snatch fourth spot, and with it home advantage for the play-off, but the required 65 point winning margin against Wakefield was much too tall an order. The home side made all the early running and broke the deadlock on four minutes when captain Adrian Vowles and centre Darren Rodgers sent Wells racing down the right touchline. Six minutes later hooker Aaron Raper handled twice in a slick move finished off in style by Danny Orr, a try the stand-off also converted. Midway through the half Castleford's influential hooker Raper hobbled from the field, and the visitors had weathered the storm to come right back into things. Centre Graham Law landed a 24th-minute penalty to put his side on the board, and then scrum-half David March scrambled over the whitewash only for the referee to pull play back on the advice of a touchjudge to give Castleford a penalty. Wakefield had to settle for Law's second penalty on 36 minutes, which closed the gap to 10-4 at the interval. The Wildcats began the second period at a blistering pace. Young Ben Westwood had a try ruled out for a forward pass, and only a tremendous tackle from Orr and substitute Paul Smith denied second row Jamie Field a score. But it was Castleford who drew first blood when substitute Ian Tonks and Orr combined in midfield to send full-back Richard Gay, back in action after a five-match absence, racing over from 40 metres. Man of the match Orr then kicked the goal. When Wakefield did breach the hosts' line on the hour Paul March's pass to law was again ruled to be forward. Thirteen minutes from the end Orr and Michael Eagar did superbly well to hold up Andy Speake over the line after substitute forward Gareth Ellis made inroads. But Cas could not prevent substitute Paul Handforth scoring the visitors' first try four minutes later when he plunged over from short range. Wells completed the scoring when he raced in off an Orr pass to claim his 13th touchdown of the season, seven of which have come in the last five matches. By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport © PA Sporting Life Leeds overcame their gritty neighbours to set up a Super League play-off showdown with arch-rivals Bradford in a repeat of the Challenge Cup final at Odsal next Saturday. The Rhinos, beaten by Castleford in last season's play-offs, clung to their title hopes with a hard-fought victory in tonight's sudden-death tie at Headingley. The battling Tigers, who have never won the championship in their 74-year history, twice held the lead and were outscored only four tries to three. Not for the first time Leeds were indebted to their inspirational captain and ace marksman Iestyn Harris, whose expert goal-kicking contrasted sharply with that of Castleford's Danny Orr. When Harris struck an upright with his fourth conversion attempt it was the first time he had missed the target since the Rhinos' defeat at Castleford on August 18. Orr, on the other hand, could land only one of his four shots at goal and that, in the end, proved decisive. Bradford and Leeds will now do battle for a fifth time next Saturday while Wigan and St Helens clash in another derby semi-final at the JJB Stadium 24 hours earlier. Castleford frequently looked capable of repeating last year's heroic efforts which took them to within 80 minutes of the Grand Final. Veteran scrum-half Brad Davis, told 24 hours before kick-off that he has no future with the Tigers, quickly put his disappointment behind him to get them off to the ideal start. The Australian timed his run to perfection as he chased a kick from half-back partner Orr and, after video referee John Holdsworth confirmed he was onside, was awarded the first try of this elimination play-off. Orr converted to make it 6-0 but Leeds hit back with two tries in seven minutes, initially with the help of a large slice of luck. Castleford centre Michael Eagar made a mess of a high kick from Harris and young back-row forward Kevin Sinfield demonstrated razor sharpness to pick up the loose ball and send winger Paul Sterling over for the simplest of scores. The 20-year-old Sinfield then further celebrated his call-up into the England World Cup squad by grabbing his side's second try after the Tigers defence had been breached by the ever-dangerous Harris. Castleford have a wonderful knack of raising their game against their big-city rivals and they stunned them with a second try on the half-hour mark, right winger Jon Wells superbly racing onto Davis' angled kick to the corner. Orr was wide with the conversion and also missed a penalty before prolific left winger Darren Rogers had a try ruled out for putting a foot on the touchline. Leeds, too, almost added a third try when 35-year-old substitute Daryl Powell, making his farewell appearance at Headingley ahead of his retirement, supported another break by Harris but found to his cost that the years had taken their toll on his pace and Castleford captain Adrian Vowles was able to get back to make the tackle. Leeds brought on rangy Australian centre Graham Mackay, now fully recovered from a fractured cheekbone, at the start of the second half and he made an immediate impact, almost getting Keith Senior over at the corner within five minutes of the restart. But Castleford showed they could match the Rhinos all the way and regained the lead on 46 minutes thanks to another magnificently-worked set-piece move. Had he played his sport in America, Wells could clearly carve out a career as a wide receiver such was the ease with which he gathered another crossfield kick, this time from Orr, to send Barrie-Jon Mather over for the Tigers' third try. But Orr again failed with the conversion and the misses began to look costly when Leeds scrum-half Ryan Sheridan jinked his way over from first receiver on 55 minutes for a try that put the home side back in front. Harris kicked his third conversion and the strong-running Senior finished off the scoring on 62 minutes with a well-deserved try. Eager had a try disallowed for a double movement and Castleford's final chance disappeared when substitute winger Waine Pryce dropped Andrew Purcell's pass with the tryline open. |
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