Controversial video referee calls cost Castleford Tigers victory at Leigh

It was chalk and cheese from the Magic Weekend performance against Wakefield Trinity, but Ryan Carr’s men still ended up empty handed after being on the wrong end of some controversial decisions by video referee Aaron Moore.

The 24-18 result would have looked different had two Jason Qareqare tries awarded by referee on the pitch Liam Rush been allowed to stand.

To have one of these tries chalked off was tough, but to see both disallowed brings the decision making of Moore into question – especially when you add an even more controversial call from the video official to sin-bin Louis Senior for contact to the head when he could not get out of the way of a stumbling home player.

And it is not the first time that Moore has been involved in controversy at a Castleford game after he was deemed by the head of referees to have made a “clear error” in their game with Wigan in 2025 when he was also the video ref on that occasion.

Whether Tigers boss Carr can expect another apology on this occasion time will tell but the Wigan official had a big bearing on where the points went.

His first big call came when Qareqare appeared to have squeezed in at the corner for the opening try in Cas’s first attack. But although the referee and touch judge thought he had got the ball down a lengthy look at replays by Moore showed it was touch and go whether the ball was grounded before it touched the sideline.

He ruled it had touched the sideline first and the potential score was chalked off.

Within seconds the ball was quickly transferred to the other end of the pitch and David Armstrong's chip infield was collected by Lachlan Lam for a try that did stand and was converted by Adam Cook.

It was looking like being a long afternoon for the Tigers – who had lost star centre Krystian Mapapalangi to a quad injury in the warm-up – when they conceded a second try to go 12-0 down as good work by Lam and Jack Hughes led to Armstrong racing away.

But they dug in and began to exert some pressure – helped by several penalties. Sam Hall made a big impact off the bench with a strong break then was rewarded with the visitors’ first points as he followed up Daejarn Asi's grubber kick to touch down. Joe Stimson was a surprise choice to take the conversion, but successfully sent the ball between the posts to make it 12-6.

And it got even better just before half-time when swift handling by Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e and Senior led to Mikaele Ravalawa barging his opposite number over to score on his return to first team action after he had been a late replacement following Mapapalangi’s withdrawal. With Asi adding an excellent touchline conversion it was 12-12 at the break.

Leigh again made the better start to the second half and seemed to have the points just about sewn up with two tries taking them 12 points clear again.

First, Umyla Hanley did well to reach and touch down Lam's grubber kick. Then Lam was involved again before Armstrong charged over for his second try.

Once again Cas dug in, however, as they refused to lay down despite being reduced to 12 men 12 minutes from time.

Senior made contact with the head of a stumbling Armstrong, who stayed down after referee Rush had originally not awarded a penalty. Moore intervened and Senior was yellow carded. To say it was harsh was an understatement and there had been a similar high tackle earlier on PLT without anything more than a penalty for the incident.

Again it was not straight forward for Leigh, though, as they were forced to defend again following a break by Valemei carried on by Cain Robb in support.

That attack came to nothing after a poor play-the-ball, but soon after the 12-man Tigers thought they had pulled a score back when PLT brilliantly paved the way for Qareqare to go over in the corner.

But Moore again intervened in the Leopards’ favour as he ruled an obstruction in the build-up – another big and harsh call.

Still, Cas refused to go away and they were rewarded as PLT raced past several defenders to score a try that was again converted by Asi.

Leigh were hanging on now and managed to see out the game in the remaining five minutes, but the Tigers could take plenty of credit for their efforts on this occasion.