Round 19
Leeds Rhinos 18 d. Castleford Tigers 12

2008 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Depleted Rhinos comeback to beat Tigers
Sun June 29, 2008
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Leeds Rhinos shrugged off the absence of 14 players to conjure a sensational fightback as three second-half tries gave them victory against engage Super League's bottom club Castleford Tigers at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.

Seven of Brian McClennan's squad were rested after playing in last night's Gillette international between England and France and another seven were injured or suspended.

Castleford exploited the absence of key men such Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peacock, Gareth Ellis, Keith Senior Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow - all of whom were instrumental in England's 56-8 victory in Toulouse - to open the scoring after 20 minutes through Richard Owen.

Castleford teenager Joe Westerman, 18, who had travelled to Toulouse as non-playing member of the England squad, then touched down six minutes into the second half to put Castleford 10-0 ahead.

But the spirited Rhinos dug deep thereafter to claim tries from Lee Smith, Brent Webb and Matt Diskin to avoid a third successive defeat and avenge their 38-20 defeat at the hands of the Tigers at the Jungle in March.

The absence of so many established players forced McClennan to dig deep into the club's vaunted academy for bodies.

Remarkably, and to their eternal credit, 13 of Leeds' 17 named players had progressed through the youth system at Headingley.

Two 19-year-olds - Ben Jones-Bishop and Danny Allan - lined up at full-back and stand-off respectively and certainly showed no signs of stagefright.

Both were prominent during the early exchanges but after Leeds failed to make their dominance pay Castleford forged ahead through Owen who touched down in the left corner to finish off a fine move which saw the ball pass through five pairs of hands.

The score capped a spell of pressure from the visiting side but after Craig Huby failed to convert the try, the Rhinos produced an encouraging response and Allan was desperately unlucky not to cap his first senior start with a try.

The rangy half-back collected possession just inside the Castleford half and advanced forward at pace but saw his progress halted by a fine saving tackle from Owen just short of the line.

Huby extended the visitors' lead soon after with a routine penalty but Castleford failed to make their territorial dominance pay as the interval approached as scrum-half Brent Sherwin skewed a drop-goal attempt wide shortly before the break.

However, Westerman's half-time introduction injected added firepower into Castleford and he embarked on a powerful run from deep which created the field position which culminated in the teenager grounding a fine crossfield kick from Luke Dorn.

Westerman could not convert and although a Huby penalty kept Castleford's hopes of victory alive, Leeds roared back in stunning fashion.

First Smith scampered clear down the left flank after collecting Simon Worrall's pass and then Webb found the space to crash over.

Smith failed to convert his own try but added the extras to Webb's and did likewise when Diskin emerged to crash under the posts before adding a penalty for this third goal of the evening.

Report Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Article: Youngsters give McClennan hope for the future


Lauitiiti returns for Rhinos
Thu June 26, 2008
Source: www.leedsrugby.com

Rhinos star Ali Lauitiiti is set to return for the World Champions as they take on Castleford Tigers this Saturday at Headingley Carnegie, kick off 6pm.

The giant second rower has been out since injuring his knee against Bradford five weeks ago. However, an intense period of training and treatment have got him back to full fitness.

He commented, "I started running last week and everything has gone well. We have got to the bottom of the problem now with my knee. Our physio Meirion Jones and conditioner Jason Davidson have done a good job with me. We have built up the muscles around my knee and quad to give me more stability and I have lost some weight. They have been working me overtime to drop the weight and I am probably a couple of kilograms lighter than when I last played. I feel better for having lost the weight. My problem is that I have a sweet tooth! But I have really knuckled down to lose the weight to help me get back quicker and make sure that I don't break down again.

"We did a lot of extra work early in the morning before the other guys came in and after they have gone home. I have targeted the Cas game for a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to it," added Lauitiiti.
Elsewhere in the 19 man squad, McClennan is without seven players who will be involved in the Gillette Fusion Test Match on Friday night whilst Nick Scruton will begin his three match ban and Carl Ablett has suffered an ankle injury in the defeat to St Helens last Friday.

The average age of the squad is 23 however only Joe Chandler and Michael Haley have not played for the first team this season and the latter has been playing for Doncaster in the Co-operative National League on loan.

The squad in full is:

01. Brent Webb
02. Scott Donald
05. Lee Smith
08. Kylie Leuluai
09. Matt Diskin
11. Jamie Jones-Buchanan
14. Ali Lauitiiti
16. Ryan Bailey
21. Jordan Tansey
22. Ryan Hall
23. Danny Williams
24. Luke Burgess
25. Danny Allan
26. Ben Kaye
28. Simon Worrall
30. Michael Haley
32. Kallum Watkins
33. Joe Chandler
34. Ben Jones-Bishop

News Source: www.leedsrugby.com

Advanced Search