It was a very successful first home game for the Leeds Rhinos PDRL team as they defeated local rivals Castleford Tigers.
The Rhinos had the best possible start to the game as from the Castleford kick-off, Leeds made their way down field and scored on their very first set of six. Simon Brown found a gap between the Tigers defenders and powered his way over the try line. Owen Lockwood then added the extra two points and gave Leeds a 6-0 advantage.
Castleford had an early injury blow as Jack Sherburn was forced off after he suffered two shoulder injuries in the opening moments of the match.
Simon Brown soon found himself on the scoresheet again for the Rhinos after he broke through the Tigers defence again to touch down for his second try of the game. Owen Lockwood converted the resulting kick and doubled the Rhinos advantage.
One of the tries of the game was scored by Chris Young who brilliantly collected a pass and made a line break. Young then ran almost 60 metres as he was chased down by the Castleford fullback to score under the posts. Lockwood was successful with the conversion and made the score line 18-0 to the Rhinos.
Some may have thought that the Rhinos would let their intensity drop but heavy tackles from Tommy Pouncey proved otherwise. Chris Young then went on to score his second try of the game after another brilliant sequence of play. Young sidestepped two Castleford defenders and then broke free to touch down uncontested. A tough conversion was missed by Owen Lockwood but the scoreboard was heavily in favour to Leeds.
As well as the offensive prowess that the Leeds Rhinos PDRL team were showing, they were also great defensively. Tries from Jamie Addyman and Ashley Lockwood then added to Castleford’s misery, giving the Rhinos a huge 32-0 lead.
Castleford finally broke through the Leeds defence to score an unconverted try right on the halftime whistle and the Leeds Rhinos PDRL team took a 32-4 lead into the changing room.
Josh Butler got things off to a flying start for the Rhinos in the second half. Sam Zeller broke free and unselfishly handed the ball of the Butler who scored underneath the posts. Nathan Collins then added the extra two points for his first successful conversion of the game.
Castleford responded immediately though with a diving try from Steven Joynson. The try was once again uncoverted so the Leeds lead was cut slightly to 30 points.
Chris Young completed his hattrick after yet another dazzling display of footwork to score under the posts. Nathan Collins successfully converted the try to make the score 44-8.
Tempers flared late on in the second half but once things settled down, the Rhinos got straight back to business. Jamie Addyman went on to score his second try of the game and Owen Lockwood resumed the kicking duties to score in front of the posts.
Tim Rumford also scored his second try of the match for Castleford and make the score 50-14. However, Nathan Collins went on to score a brilliant Rob Burrow-esque try that was converted by Lockwood once again to end the game at 56-14 to the Rhinos.