Castleford Tigers show spirit with late tries but stumble again in derby with Leeds Rhinos

The Tigers looked to be heading for a much heavier defeat when trailing 38-6 at Headingley, but restored some pride with three exciting tries by Zac Cini, Jeremiah Simbiken and Innes Senior, all converted by Tex Hoy.

It was all too late for the visitors, however, after they had been second best for most of the afternoon in a hugely disappointing return to his former ground for McGuire. And he was left to pick the bones of a fourth defeat of 2025​.

He said: "I'm proud that they were still fighting away to the end, but it was all a little too late.

"But, when you're 30 points up like Leeds were, you do tend to take your foot off the gas.

"We worked hard to absorb all the pressure Leeds had in the first 15/20 minutes. They had 90 per cent possession and there were some positive signs that they were committed, but then there was a real lack of discipline, errors, poor skill and Leeds took advantage. The tries were a bit soft as well.

"It’s tough. It was never going to be a straight road for us this year and we’ve had a few bumps already. We’re doing some good things mixed in with some really ordinary things we speak about not doing and we probably lack a little bit of toughness to be able to push through tough moments.

"We'll get there over time but at the moment we can't quite handle it. Good teams take advantage of that.”

Leeds had several men missing and it showed as despite their early pressure and massive help from the referee’s penalty count and awarding of set restarts they struggled to break through until the 22nd minute when Jake Connor sidestepped his way over.

Two more tries followed before half-time from Keenan Palasia and Harry Newman to leave Cas with a big job after the break. That job became even harder when Jack Sinfield went over to extend the home lead.

The Tigers did briefly reply through bright spark Fletcher Rooney who finished impressively to put their first points on the board. But the joy was shortlived as Ryan Hall and Riley Lumb scored.

Leeds’ over confidence in the closing stages then led to Cas tries with first Cini scoring following an interception then Simbiken charging over after another home error. Senior completed the scoring with a spectacular long range try.