Report

An inspired performance from Castleford Tigers winger Greg Eden saw Castleford record a 38-0 win over the Leigh Centurions at Leigh Sports Village.

A hat-trick in four first half minutes from Eden, along with a try double from Jesse Sene-Lafeo, saw the Tigers go to the half-time sheds 28-0 ahead.

Further tries from Jake Webster, as well as Eden’s fourth try, meant Castleford stay two points clear of Salford Red Devils at the top of the table.

Castleford opened the scoring in the 15^th minute when some expansive play saw Michael Shenton release Jesse Sene-Lafeo out wide. The back-rower’s kick in field was duly collected by Luke Gale who offloaded back to Sene-Lafeo to cross over the line. Gale added the extras to give Castleford a 6-0 lead.

Eight minutes later, Sene-Lafeo was over for his second try when he took a short pass from McShane to power his way over from close range. Gale was wayward with his conversion.

Leigh thought they had the perfect response in the 29^th minute when hooker Eloi Pelissier bundled his way over from dummy half, only for video referee Robert Hicks to disallow the try for obstruction from Antoni Maria.

Poor handling again was costing Leigh, with on-loan St Helens centre Matty Fleming losing the ball on his own 20. Shortly after, Greg Eden scored the first of his three first half tries to put the Tigers in a commanding position.

An attack on the ball from Leigh’s Ben Reynolds meant play-on was called, Shenton quickly found Eden out wide who crossed for his 22^nd try of the season. Gale missed the conversion to leave the scores at 16-0 with six minutes left of the first half.

Two further tries from the magic man Greg Eden, both converted by Gale, meant Castleford went into half-time 28 points up.

Things went from bad to worse for the Centurions when Ben Crooks was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes for a dangerous tackle on Castleford’s Matt Cook. Moments later, Castleford spread the ball from right to left to send Eden over for his fourth try of the afternoon. Gale’s conversion attempt struck the post to keep the score at 32-0 in favour of the Tigers.

The Tigers weren’t done yet, Jake Webster took a neat pass from Ben Roberts back on the inside to glide through a huge hole in the Leigh defence. Gale made no mistake with the conversion to increase Castleford’s lead.

Leigh tried their best to respond, with Cory Paterson and Danny Tickle both being held up over the line late on. But ruthless Castleford defence prevailed to keep Leigh scoreless.

Written by Jack Ireland.