By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
Golden oldie Dean Sampson marked his sensational Super League comeback with a crucial try as Castleford boosted their play-off hopes with an impressive win over top-six rivals Warrington.
The former Great Britain prop forward, brought out of retirement a month before his 36th birthday in response to a front-row crisis, was only on the field for 20 minutes but it was long enough to claim an all-important touchdown.
Sampson, appropriately wearing the number 36 jersey rather than his old number 10, crossed the Warrington line on 29 minutes, just after entering the action as a substitute.
He found himself in the right position at the right time to touch the ball down after Ryan Hudson's kick on the last tackle rebounded fortuitously off a Warrington defender.
That try gave the Tigers a six-point lead they never looked like relinquishing as Yorkshire coach Graham Steadman drew first blood in his season's duels with Warrington and Lancashire boss Paul Cullen.
The hugely-impressive Hudson had earlier dummied his way over from acting half-back for the first of his two tries and, when winger Waine Pryce took Damian Gibson's pass to cross for a third try on 37 minutes, the Tigers looked to be well in command as they led 18-4.
Warrington, who suffered a blow when influential loose forward Sid Domic went off with a head injury after 11 minutes, battled throughout but lacked the creativity to break down a superb Tigers defence.
Wolves skipper Lee Briers pounced on a defensive error in first-half injury-time, hacking the ball to the try line after young Castleford full-back Tom Saxton had been deceived by a wicked bounce.
Briers, who had set up his side's first try after 16 minutes with a long pass out for substitute forward Darren Burns to cross wide out, kicked the conversion to close the gap to eight points but that was as good as it got for the home side.
Bartrim added a penalty early in the second half and Castleford were home and dry when Saxton, atoning for his earlier error, raced through a stunned Wolves defence after Andy Johnson had smothered the ball back from a three-man tackle close to the line.
Winger Rob Smyth pulled another try back for the Wolves, with Briers kicking his second goal, but Castleford had the final say when Hudson supported a break by Johnson to claim his side's fifth try
By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
Michael Eagar wrecked Huddersfield's hopes of ending their Tetley's Super League slide.
The Australian centre grabbed two early tries as the Tigers roared to their third successive win and sent the Giants tumbling to their sixth defeat on the trot.
Huddersfield were never in the game - they were trailing 32-6 before they gave the score respectability with two tries in three minutes in the second half.
Cas never looked back after taking a fourth minute lead when Eagar finished a flowing move involving Mitch Healey, Danny Orr and Tom Saxton.
Eagar grabbed his second touchdown six minutes later after Huddersfield's flimsy defence was again caught out by swift handling from Healey and Orr. Wayne Bartrim added the conversion.
Huddersfield were making little headway and fell further behind in the 19th minute when Bartrim kicked a penalty goal after the Giants were penalised for holding down Ryan Hudson.
The Giants finally opened their account in the 22nd minute when Stanley Gene went in from Paul March's pass and Steve McNamara added the goal.
Huddersfield went close again three minutes later when stand-off Brandon Costin weaved his way through cleverly but had a touchdown ruled out for a double movement.
However, the Tigers began to show more urgency towards the end of the first half.
Jon Hepworth had a touchdown ruled out for a knock-on before Castleford went further ahead when Michael Smith and substitute Dean Sampson sent in Orr - with Bartrim adding his third goal.
Huddersfield's hopes of getting back in the game disappeared when Darren Rogers scored early in the second half after good work from Healey, Orr, Andy Johnson and Eagar.
Castleford made certain of victory when Bartrim got a try before making the opening to send in Johnson for the home side's sixth touchdown.
Huddersfield staged a late fightback when Julian Bailey's 67th minute try was followed by one from Paul March three minutes later after Castleford's Damian Gibson lost the ball. McNamara kicked his third goal.
By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
Evergreen winger Francis Cummins became only the third player to register a century of Super League tries as Leeds successfully overcame a spirited Castleford to open up a four-point lead at the top of the table.
The Rhinos were well below their best but they showed enough resilience to twice come from behind to preserve their unbeaten home record and end the Tigers' three-match winning run.
The in-form visitors made a whirlwind start with two tries in the first nine minutes but the League leaders roared back to seize a four-point half-time lead, thanks largely to the devastating finishing of Cummins.
The 26-year-old former Leeds captain, who has not missed a game since September 1998, reached his landmark with two tries in seven minutes, each time finishing decisively after a touch of class from Great Britain centre Keith Senior.
He now joins Kris Radlinski (Wigan) and Robbie Paul (Bradford) on the magical milestone but it was another seasoned threequarter who took the early honours.
Centre Michael Eagar pulled off a trysaving tackle in the opening moments to deny Leeds speed merchant Mark Calderwood and then pounced on a kick from Danny Orr to score the game's first try.
Orr then spun our of an attempted two-man tackle to grab a second and Wayne Bartrim kicked the first of three goals to put the visitors 10-0 up.
Leeds began their fightback on 14 minutes when prop Wayne McDonald crashed over after hooker Matt Diskin had been held up on his back and Cummins' quick one-two put them in front.
Calderwood made up for his earlier miss when he took centre Chev Walker's pass to score his 17th try of the season but Castleford, who gave a debut to 17-year-old prop Craig Huby, kept themselves in touch with two tries from winger Waine Pryce either side of half-time.
He raced onto Jonny Hepworth's kick to the corner to claim his first and then profited from a blunder by veteran full-back Gary Connolly, who completely mis-kicked an attempt to clear Ryan Hudson's grubber.
Kevin Sinfield missed a chance to level the scores when he was off target with a penalty - his third miss from five attempts - but Leeds regained the lead with two tries in three minutes around the hour mark.
First scrum-half Danny McGuire profited from a kind ricochet to hack the ball ahead and touch down and then Walker and Sinfield combined in a sweet passing move to get substitute Rob Burrow over.
The ever-dangerous Eagar fashioned a try for winger Darren Rogers to give the Tigers hope of a second successive win at Headingley but Rob Burrow's drop goal gave his side a seven-point cushion and Senior made sure of the victory by gliding over for a seventh try in injury time.
© SportingLife.com 2003
London continued a remarkable away record this season by scoring 10 points in the last 15 minutes to snatch victory at The Jungle.
Their three-match winning run looked set to end when Castleford skipper Danny Orr sent Darren Rogers over for a 58th-minute try, and Wayne Bartrim kicked his fourth goal to give the home side a 16-8 advantage.
But the Broncos struck back with two tries in three minutes from centre Tony Martin before rounding things off when full-back Dennis Moran collected his second two minutes from time and scrum-half Chris Thorman tagged on his sixth goal.
Castleford took a sixth-minute lead when Michael Smith's pass was hacked on by Orr who regathered the ball before linking with Rogers to send Michael Eagar in for a try which Bartrim goaled.
The Broncos fell further behind five minutes later when Bartrim kicked a penalty after Martin was sin-binned for holding down after thwarting Orr with a try-saving tackle.
Thorman opened London's account with a 15th-minute penalty goal but the Tigers looked the sharper side and Andy Johnson had a 22nd-minute effort ruled out because the home side were adjudged to have stolen the ball in a two-man tackle.
London reduced the arrears to two points when the in-form Moran darted over for his first in the 30th minute, and Thorman kicked his second penalty two minutes before half-time to make it 8-8.
Castleford piled on the pressure early in the second half but were foiled by London's solid defence.
Bartrim edged the Tigers back in front with a 51st-minute penalty and then landed a touchline conversion after Rogers crossed at the corner.
London's revival started when the Tigers made a mess of dealing with Thorman's kick and Martin pounced for his first.
The centre quickly struck again by finishing a lovely move involving Billy Peden and Russell Bowden.
Martin rescued the Broncos in the closing stages by knocking down Rogers' pass to Orr when a Tigers try was on the cards.
Castleford's fate was then sealed in the 78th minute when Rob Purdham's long pass put Moran in for his 10th try in the last four games to seal London's sixth away win of the campaign.
By Andy Hampson, PA Sport
Paul King touched down in the closing seconds as Hull claimed third place in the Tetley's Super League after a tough battle with Castleford.
The two sides drew 26-26 at The Jungle earlier in the season and there was again little between them as Hull shaded a fiercely-contested encounter at the Kingston Communications Stadium.
Two tries from Dean Treister and one from Kirk Yeaman had put Hull on course for victory but Cas made life tough with efforts from Danny Orr, Michael Eagar and Waine Pryce.
Orr then failed to take advantage of a late penalty and Hull responded to settle the match with a late break finished by King.
Defences held sway for most of the opening quarter as they made the crowd wait until the 19th minute for the first points of the evening.
Hull enjoyed the majority of the early possession but the Tigers withstood some severe pressure and occasionally threatened on the counter-attack.
Yeaman went close to opening the scoring after eight minutes when he was forced into touch and Castleford's Damian Gibson did well to run out a Paul Cook kick from his own in-goal area.
The Tigers had a great chance when Pryce took an Orr kick out wide but Alex Wilkinson, the debutant on loan from Bradford, pushed him into touch.
The first try finally came when Cook put Yeaman through a gap on 20 metres and the centre made no mistake as he darted for the corner.
Steve Prescott added a difficult touchline conversion but the Tigers came roaring back thanks largely to a brilliant 40-20 kick from Mitch Healey.
Healey then fed half-back partner Orr from the resulting scrum and the stand-off raced through for a score easily converted by Wayne Bartrim.
The game continued to ebb and flow but Hull looked to have taken a firm grip as Treister crossed either side of half-time for two more tries.
The hooker grabbed his first just before the break as he pounced on a loose ball after Chris Chester's grubber kick had rebounded off Wilkinson's legs.
Prescott managed to strike the upright with his conversion attempt but more Hull points were not long in coming as Treister went over again after 48 minutes.
Garreth Carvell had already gone close when Treister combined with the forward from dummy half and took a return pass to go over.
With Prescott this time adding the extras, Hull looked in control but the spirited visitors again stirred up a response to peg their hosts back to 16-14.
The Tigers engineered tries on both flanks with Orr putting Andy Johnson away down the right to create the first of them for Eagar after 54 minutes.
Cas then switched the play to the opposite side of the field as they spread the ball out wide for Paul Mellor to send Pryce sliding over for a deserved try.
Bartrim's two missed kicks ensured Hull maintained a slender lead but the Tigers continued to apply the pressure and won a penalty just inside the 20-metre line with less than three minutes to go, with Richard Horne sin-binned in the incident.
Orr had to run the ball but the move broke down. It was a huge let-off for Hull, who then settled the match as Yeaman broke for the posts and King crashed over in the dying moments. Prescott's kick wrapped up the scoring.