“It’s a…” – Super League star could face ban as Jon Wells has his say on incident

Rivals round in Super League was set to kick start with a West Yorkshire derby between Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos. It was the first time the two have met over Easter since 2016. Last year in rivals round they both won. The Tigers defeated the eventually relegated Wakefield Trinity and Leeds Rhinos edged Huddersfield Giants.

Castleford went into the game without a win in 2024 which was the case as well in 2023 when they stunned the Rhinos for their first win of the year. The Rhinos haven’t won away at the Jungle since 2021 and went into the game after back to back defeats to St Helens.

The Tigers started the game by far the better of the two sides but when given the opportunity to make that reflect upon the scoreboard Danny Richardson struck the post with a 40 metre penalty attempt.

Cas nearly scored a try from Liam Horne after a great Liam Watts interception. Leeds kept on inviting pressure but were able to defend their line. They did have the last attempt of the half with a Wide to West like play but Castleford defended their line well. So, the halftime score was 0-0.

Despite all the pressure from the Tigers in the first half, a minute into the second half and Leeds had the lead after a kick to the corner and a dubious grounding from Paul Momirovski for his first Leeds try.

After waiting seven weeks for his first Leeds try, he only had to wait 10 more minutes for his second as he supported James McDonnell to score after a neat Brodie Croft drop off.

As Castleford battled to get back into the game, Danny Richardson kicked out on the full from a dropout and Rhyse Martin made it 14-0. Shortly after a Matt Frawley kick was batted back from Ash Handley with Lachie Miller scored his first Leeds try.

The Tigers hit back through former St Helens man Josh Simm who notched a try after a wicked bounce.

But Leeds had the last say after a brilliant break from Brodie Croft who passed the ball back inside for Lachie Miller to score.

Super League star could face ban

There will be Castleford Tigers fans who feel Leeds Rhinos got lucky especially with some key decisions such as the decision to allow Justin Sangare to remain on the field after a controversial head contact on Joe Westerman.

On Sky Sports, Jon Wells had his say on the matter saying: “Westerman mixing up his ball play and he’s running, he’s so valuable, so vital to this Castleford Tigers attack.

“Well and defence for that matter. It’s Westerman who carries, and it’s just a head clash. It’s a head clash with Sangare. But there is a direction, there is a change here in the interpretation.”

Wells doubled down on his belief: “I think, first replay showed me head on head. But it is the tackler’s responsibility to make sure that he’s not endangering the ball carrier I’m looking at that, I think I said that’s head on head contact. Interesting, the referee is having a look at this but no penalty.”

The question will remain though, was it head on head or was there a shoulder contact? This could be a worry for Leeds at the Super League Match Review Panel today because if shoulder contact is determined a ban could follow for their clash with Warrington Wolves.