Castleford Tigers atoned for their Grand Final defeat with a heart-stopping 25-24 victory in their re-match with Betfred Super League champions Leeds Rhinos.
Leeds produced a tremendous fightback after trailing 24-0 after 23 minutes but, despite outscoring their opponents by five tries to four, had left themselves with too much to do.
An epic derby was witnessed by a bumper crowd of 23,246 at Elland Road, a Super League best for Leeds.
TRY! That's three on the board for @CTRLFC! ðŸ¯
— Sky Sports RL 🉠(@SkySportsRL) March 23, 2018
A break from deep sees Paul McShane cut through the defensive line like a knife through butter! 🔪
Follow live updates as @leedsrhinos host @CTRLFC live on Sky Sports Action or Mix: https://t.co/wjFyxVM1aw https://t.co/TD29xyxxcq
Stand-off Jamie Ellis got the ball rolling by latching onto Luke Gale's precision kick through the Leeds defence for the first of their four first-half tries.
The Tigers kept the ball alive superbly on the last tackle to work winger James Clare over for a second try, former Leeds second rower Alex Foster touched down from an Ellis kick and substitute Junior Moors crashed over from Paul McShane's sharp cut-out pass.
Gale kicked all four conversions and, on the stroke of half-time, landed a long-range drop goal which ultimately proved crucial.
Leeds looked better for the introduction of teenage full-back Jack Walker after 24 minutes and, after pulling two tries back before half-time, were the better side for most of the second half.
👠@CTRLFC have now won the last nine regular season meetings against Leeds in Super League
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) March 23, 2018
That's some record! #SLLeeCas pic.twitter.com/ACR8s1EdeJ
Centre pair Kallum Watkins and Ash Handley both reached the tryline after getting on the end of the half-back's high kicks.
Handley took Richie Myler's pass and stepped neatly through the Castleford defence for his second try.
Watkins sliced through the Tigers defence to set-up a nerve-jangling finish but he was unable to add the goal and was also off target when Ryan Hall went over three minutes from the end.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SLLeeCas?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SLLeeCas</a><br><br>23,246 packed into Elland Road tonight - a new record attendance for <a href="https://twitter.com/leedsrhinos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@leedsrhinos</a> in the Super League era ðŸ‘👠<a href="https://t.co/h9xLazNFlr">pic.twitter.com/h9xLazNFlr</a></p>— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) <a href="https://twitter.com/SuperLeague/status/977318594819244032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Castleford coach Daryl Powell thought his side had blown their chance of victory.
“I thought he would kick it and I wouldn’t have been able to argue with it,” Powell said.
“On balance, Leeds probably just shaded us over the 80 minutes but we’ll take it and move on. We’re in a good spot, we’ve won four straight and there’s loads to come from us.
“It was an interesting game, I couldn’t believe that throw-away drop goal just before half-time won us the game."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🗣 ‘I couldn’t believe that throwaway drop-goal just before half-time ended up winning the game.’<br><br>🉠A relieved <a href="https://twitter.com/CTRLFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CTRLFC</a> coach Daryl Powell following their 25-24 Super League victory over <a href="https://twitter.com/leedsrhinos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@leedsrhinos</a> at Elland Road.<br><br>Full ðŸŽ¥âž¡ï¸ <a href="https://t.co/HdmMoXjOTZ">https://t.co/HdmMoXjOTZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/0KJjPg1Y7l">pic.twitter.com/0KJjPg1Y7l</a></p>— West Yorkshire Sport (@WYSdaily) <a href="https://twitter.com/WYSdaily/status/977322537318264833?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“There was so much drama. We started like a house on fire. Everything we talked about, the boys applied it to the letter. We looked sharp and scored some outstanding tries.
“I don’t know what happened, we haven’t played many games so perhaps we’re not conditioned for the brutal rigours of rugby league.
“I thought Leeds played really well and challenged us. They hang about, they just never go away."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🎥🉠<a href="https://twitter.com/leedsrhinos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@leedsrhinos</a> coach Brian McDermott praises ‘courageous’ performance in 25-24 Super League defeat by <a href="https://twitter.com/CTRLFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CTRLFC</a> at Elland Road.<br><br>Full ðŸŽ¥âž¡ï¸ <a href="https://t.co/5mTdVyq4R2">https://t.co/5mTdVyq4R2</a> <a href="https://t.co/KpoQqR6v5Q">pic.twitter.com/KpoQqR6v5Q</a></p>— West Yorkshire Sport (@WYSdaily) <a href="https://twitter.com/WYSdaily/status/977327111970041857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Leeds coach Brian McDermott had no complaints over the result of his 200th Super League match in charge of the Rhinos.
“It’s a funny game to sum up,” McDermott said. “I thought we were very courageous. At 24-0 down, we went at Cas and cracked them a couple of times.
“Whenever you attack as much as we did, there is always a chance of stretching yourself. Defensively we were very good at times, but then you’ve got to point the finger at the first 15 minutes.
“For the first 15 minutes, there was just too much wrong with our game. I don’t think we were unbelievably poor, there were just too many things not right and Cas exploited them.
“We were off and they were gifted some field position and repeat sets through penalties. We needed to be better in that first 15 minutes and for that reason we didn’t deserve to win.”
