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Superleague XVIII - Round 2
10th February 2013
Early Wake-Up Call
Without the services of Vickery, injured last week, the only change was the introduction of Keinhorst on the wing. Achurch was again on the bench, alongside Clarkson, Kirke and McShane They will have been pleased for the track-suits early on as Leeds played with the wind and rain at their backs attacking the new 'members' end at Wheldon Road.
The Castleford players ignored the conditions and after being camped in the Rhinos twenty for four consecutive sets of six they made the pressure count with a try on four minutes, scored by ex-Rhino Jordan Tansey, chasing down a pinpoint Rangi Chase grubber.
Ellis was accurate with his conversion attempt and the home supporters celebrated an early, and deserved lead.
Two Great Kicks
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The next ten minutes were all Rhinos pressure, and on thirteen we broke the Castleford line after a magical interpassing fifty metre break featuring McGuire and Moon before a final ball inside put McGuire over to score his customary try against the Tigers.
Sinfield converted to level the scores, but we quickly lost Delaney with a injury which would see him sidelined for the rest of the afternoon.
It took the home side just three minutes to strike back.
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Rob Burrow threw a wayward pass which was intercepted and the Tigers broke downfield. Chase was inspirational in a three man break which finally saw Webster pick up off his toes to dive over. Ellis missed what looked like a simple conversion, but the Tigers were 6-10 ahead.
The remainder of the half can only be described as scrappy. Both sides coughed up possession and Mr Roby made us sure that we all knew he had a pea in his whistle. Leeds bombed a few chances, but so did Cas and the sides went into the break with a four point margin.
Leeds were into the weather in the second half, and it had worsened noticibly with driving rain into their faces.
On forty-nine the home side lost Massey for ten minutes after Roby finally lost his patience after previously putting them on a team caution and two plays in we took full benefit with Hall crossing on the overlap. Sinfield converted from the touchline in awful conditions for a 12-10 lead.
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You suspected that it wouldn't be enough. We'd need more points than this, or a touch of luck.
Within a few minutes it looked like it might be 'luck' when Chase raced into a fracas from a good ten metres and landed a haymaker on Paul McShane. The referee bottled it and put it on report.
Five minutes later and Chase was a lucky boy again. This time he smacked Zak Hardaker on the head as the Rhinos full-back ran the ball. Hardaker was out cold but Roby gave a Leeds knock-on, and failed to discipline Chase.
Perhaps we weren't going to get the luck!
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Try Scorer
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On seventy, Ellis missed what looked like a simple penalty from thirty metres but made up for it on seventy-five after the Rhinos were judged to have stolen the ball.
With two minutes left Huby tried a drop goal after the Rhinos had gifted Cas possession but he duffed it under the posts. Leeds looked to be holding on for the draw when Kirke lost the ball on his own twenty in a loose carry and two plays later referee Roby penalised the Rhinos for not being square at the play-the-ball. This time Ellis made no mistakes and despite a frantic last seconds Leeds attack the Tigers kept their line unbroken for a famous 12-14 win.
There is no doubt that the Tigers were up for this and in the end they deserved the win. They played the conditions, hit us hard, roughed us up, and rode their luck when the decisions were going their way.
Sadly, Mr Roby once again proved that he isn't up to this standard, and he and his touch judges had a shocker.
If anything is going to act as motivation for the Rhinos, then playing this one back off tape, will. I doubt we can make so many mistakes in one game again as we did this afternoon.
All credit to Cas, they won their cup final.
Please vote for your Man-of-the-Match in the front page poll.
Match Facts
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No.
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Player
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T
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G
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DG
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No.
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Player
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T
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G
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DG
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1
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Hardaker
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19
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Tansey
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1
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22
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Keinhorst
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1
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Owen
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3
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Watkins
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3
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Shenton
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4
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Moon
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4
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Webster
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1
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5
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Hall
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1
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2
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Carney
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13
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Sinfield
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2
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6
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Chase
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6
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McGuire
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1
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7
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Ellis
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3
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16
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Bailey
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8
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Walker
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7
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Burrow
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15
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Milner
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10
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Peacock
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10
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Huby
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12
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Ablett
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11
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Glimour
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15
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Delaney
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12
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Hauraki
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11
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Jones-Buchanan
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17
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Holmes
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17
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Kirke
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9
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Clark
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18
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Clarkson
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13
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Millington
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9
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McShane
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16
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Massey
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19
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Achurch
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18
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Thompson
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Kick Off:
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15:30
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Half-Time:
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06-10
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Referee:
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Tim Roby
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Crowd:
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9,103
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