Castleford 32 Union Triezte Catalane 28
By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
French Championship leaders Union Treiziste Catalane recovered from a disastrous start to make their Super League opponents fight for a place in the last 16 of the Powergen Challenge Cup.
Although the outcome of the fourth-round tie was never in doubt, the Catalonians produced another example of the organised and disciplined display that accounted for Hull KR in the previous round and augurs well for the likely entry into Super League in 2006.
UTC arguably took more satisfaction from the game than the Tigers, although there would have been flashbacks of the 70-point thrashings handed out to the Frenchman by Wigan and St Helens in the previous two years when they trailed 16-0 after only 13 minutes.
It was a tie that caught the imagination but largely failed to live up to expectations after the Frenchmen got off to a dismal start in unfamiliar freezing conditions.
Lively hooker Wayne Godwin scored the first of the Tigers' six tries after just two minutes when he nipped over the line from acting half-back after skipper Ryan Hudson had been brought down short.
Second rower Sean Ryan, one of five players making their home debuts, got winger Damien Gibson over with a lobbed pass five minutes later and the visitors had barely recovered their breath before scrum-half Ryan Sheridan's perfectly-timed pass got his half-back partner Sean Rudder in for a third try, his first for the club.
Godwin kicked two of the conversions to make it 13-0 and the French looked set for another humiliating defeat.
But international loose forward Aurelien Cologni jinked his way over for a try on 23 minutes and four minutes later former St Helens and London Broncos threequarter Steve Hall raced onto a kick by scrum-half Julien Rinaldi, outpacing the cover for a second score.
With experienced half-backs Rinaldi and Lauren Frayssinous calling the shots, the Frenchmen began to look a useful side.
But second rower Jamie Thackray, who made a big impact from the bench, steadied the boat when he forced his way over six minutes before the break and Jon Hepworth kicked the goal.
Frayssinous immediately pulled two points back with a penalty, to add to his earlier conversion, but Thackray and his former Halifax team-mate Ryan Clayton were both held up over the line as Castleford piled on the pressure early in the second half and it was against the run of play that second rower Djamal Fakir took Rinaldi's short pass to romp 40 metres for the try of the match.
That closed the gap once more to six points but the Tigers pulled away with further tries from winger Waine Pryce and man of the match Thackray, with Godwin kicking his third goal, before UTC's former Bradford Bulls centre Phil Howlett raced 80 metres for an interception try that ended the scoring.
By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport
Speed merchant Colin Best lit up an otherwise drab Powergen Challenge Cup fifth-round tie with a hat-trick of long-range tries.
The Australian winger, who top scored with 21 tries for Hull in 2003, claimed his first hat-trick in the English game to take his tally to six in four matches so far this season as the Airlie Birds comfortably saw off the challenge of Castleford in an all-Super League clash at the KC Stadium.
Teenager Richard Whiting provided the other highlight for the home side by setting up one of Best's tries and scoring Hull's fourth to register his first points for the club, while Paul Cooke kicked five goals from as many attempts.
Castleford coach Graham Steadman re-shuffled his side following their dismal start to the season but there were few signs of an upturn in fortunes, much to the disappointment of the 1,461 travelling fans among the 11,443 crowd.
They were already 14-0 down deep into first-half injury time when scrum-half Ryan Sheridan made their only decent break of the match.
He went on an arcing run for the corner only to be held up over the line and, to compound the disappointment, the former Great Britain international injured his arm in the process and never came back for the second half.
Injury-hit Hull, who gave a debut to former Featherstone forward Andy Bailey, dominated the game from the kick-off and ought to have been further than 14-0 ahead at the break.
Best sprinted 60 metres for his first score on 24 minutes after skipper Richie Barnett had carved open the Tigers defence and he pounced for his second eight minutes before half-time after Whiting and impressive loose forward Peter Lupton had engineered an opening.
Castleford had more of the play in the second half without seriously troubling the home side's defence and it was no surprise when they extended their lead with two tries in the last 11 minutes.
Best raced on to Whiting's speculative kick to complete his hat-trick and the 19-year-old Whiting grabbed a deserved try on 73 minutes to add to the visitors' misery.
There were few redeeming features for the Tigers. Former Hull favourite Craig Greenhill arrived to a warm welcome but the crowd's boos turned to jeers after he was put on report by referee Richard Silverwood for a high tackle on full-back Shaun Briscoe.