Battling Castleford Tigers beaten by Maika Sivo-inspired Leeds Rhinos
Castleford Tigers were defeated by a Maika Sivo-inspired Leeds Rhinos at Headingley yesterday (Sunday).
It was a battling performance from Cas but Sivo continued his fine individual form at the start of 2026 with a hat-trick of tries to help the Rhinos to a 22-4 victory.
The winger has now grabbed nine tries in just three games - with four of those coming in the thrashing of Hull KR in Las Vegas last weekend - to put Leeds second in Super League.
The Tigers, meanwhile, are in tenth spot with just one win from their opening four games, but there will be plenty of positives Ryan Carr and his men can take from this outing.
After a fairly even start at Headingley, the home side took the lead just after ten minutes when George Brown crashed over under the sticks after a high Jake Connor kick wasn’t dealt with by the Cas defence.
The visitors responded with a positive set of their own to push the Rhinos back inside their own ten before they deservedly got their first points of the board to get back into the contest at 6-4 through Mikaele Ravalawa. Cas worked the ball quickly from left to right with Ravalawa forcing his way over the line.
In terms of the scoring, however, that was as good as it got for Carr’s men. They did go close through Darnell and Liam Hood who were both stopped just short of the line as the Leeds defence came under pressure.
However, the Rhinos resisted and were able to extend their lead on the half-hour mark when Sivo went over in the corner for his first of the afternoon.
The start of the second half saw Ravalawa deny Sivo but the winger doubled his tally for the day moments later after another Connor lofted ball was not dealt with.
Zac Cini thought he had reduced the deficit when he crossed on 52 minutes but the try was disallowed for a knock-on in the build up.
Then, to rub salt into the wounds, Sivo completed his hat-trick just three minutes later, with Connor converting, to stretch the lead to 22-4.
Cas’ best chance of the second half arrived with 11 minutes remaining but Daejarn Asi was thwarted by Ryan Hall, while Cas defended well at the other end to stop Leeds from adding to their lead.
The game marked Joe Westerman’s 400th Super League appearance.
Castleford Tigers: Cini, Ravalawa, McIntosh, Mapapalangi, Qareqare, Asi, Weaver, Atoni, Hood, Westerman, Lane, Hirst, Stimson
Interchanges: Golding, Ashworth, Hall, Lawler