Rugby League News

Leigh Leopards show true playoff potential in dominant win over Castleford Tigers

by
Sam Cook
May 5, 2023

Leigh Leopards hosted Castleford Tigers in the ‘Battle of the Big Cats’ tonight and it was the Leopards who came out on top.

The international break came off the back of one of Leigh’s best performances in which they put Leeds Rhinos away quite comfortably and they backed that up tonight.

Castleford came to the Leigh Sports Village on the back of a close loss to Hull KR in which full-back Greg Eden suffered a calf strain.

That meant there was an opportunity for young winger Elliot Wallis to step in on debut whereas Leigh saw an unchanged side for the third time in a row.

📋 pic.twitter.com/LtjSZVWfDs

— Leigh Leopards (@LeighLeopardsRL) May 5, 2023

💥 Line up locked in!@GeoShieldUK • #COYF • #SLLeiCas pic.twitter.com/2PFq1dLRrD

— Castleford Tigers (@CTRLFC) May 5, 2023

The Tigers opened the scoring after a scoreless opening 15 minutes and it was Joe Westerman who charged over despite the efforts of the defending Leopards.

It didn’t take long for the home side to respond and they did so through Ben Reynolds who then converted his own try to tie it up at 6-6.

Both sides saw handling errors as they traded sets in what was a tight final 20 minutes of the first half, but ultimately neither side could break the other.

Leigh soon changed that though as they started the second-half strong and took the lead via Kai O’Donnell on the 50 minute mark to make it 12-6.

The Leopards then compounded Castleford’s misery by scoring once again straight away, this time through big man Ava Seumanufagai, and Reynolds’ trusty boot added the extra to make it 18-6.

From that point on the Leopards were in cruise control and a further five minutes later they extended through centre Rickey Leutele who was first to a kick in behind.

Ben Reynolds kept his perfect record up and the conversion put the game well out of the Tigers’ reach at 24-6 with just 15 minutes to go.

Five minutes from the finish Leigh added another through Matt Davis and Reynolds maintained his record to make the game 30-6 and a resounding victory for the Leopards.