6 conclusions from Leigh Leopards’ win at Castleford Tigers

Leigh Leopards claimed a 20-10 win at Castleford Tigers on Thursday night to hand their play-off hopes a major boost, now just three competition points outside of the top six.

The hosts took an early lead at The Jungle, and it took Leigh – wasteful in attack – until the 23rd minute to respond, when Zak Hardaker crashed over.

Josh Charnley’s try then handed the Leopards an 8-4 lead at the break, and the veteran winger crossed again after team-mate Edwin Ipape had gone the full length. Those two tries took the scoreline out to 20-4 in the visitors’ favour.

Just after the hour-mark, Joe Westerman pulled off a ‘show and go’ to help bring Cas back within 10 points, but that’s how it remained with Hardaker hitting the posts from a penalty attempt late on.

Here are our six conclusions from the press box at The Jungle…

Ipape immense

Last month, Papua New Guinean Ipape served a one-match ban following a victory against Huddersfield Giants. Boss Adrian Lam openly admitted he’d spoken to the hooker about using that time to ‘press reset’, and he certainly has done.

Since he’s returned, Ipape has delivered some huge performances – and Thursday night’s win at Castleford was no different. The amount of work he puts in defensively is simply unbelievable at times, and he created his try-scoring opportunity.

Charging a kick down, he then caught the ball and somehow found the legs to get himself all the way down the field unsupported and get over the line with Tigers defenders closing in on him. That was a huge score in the context of the game, and the latest in a long list of times he’s delivered for the Leopards. A cult hero for a reason.

Lam Heroic

We often wax lyrical about Lachlan Lam’s ability to create magic in attack, and we will do again, but his defensive efforts deserve some praise after Thursday evening’s success.

He was the man responsible for holding Tex Hoy up over the line five minutes after the restart, and was so confident he’d got the job done that he signalled ‘no try’ himself as he got up. The playmaker was proven correct, and less than 60 seconds later, team-mate Ipape had scored under the sticks with that breakaway try. Sublime.

Attack wise, Lam junior just did what he does best. Had it not been for some pretty shoddy finishing, he’d have registered a couple more assists than he got, and the pass out wide for Charnley’s second try of the evening was a thing of beauty. Leigh simply must keep hold of him.

Another bit of Leopards history

Having broken club records aplenty in last week’s big win at home against St Helens, this Leopards side wrote their name into the history books again on Thursday night.

For only the second time in the club’s history, they have now won four Super League games in a row. Given the club’s misfortunes in the top flight prior to last season, it’s no shock that the first time that happened was in 2023. Last year’s successful run however spanned seven games, from mid-April to the start of June.

Accordingly, if they’re to match that run, Leigh will still have to beat Wigan Warriors (A), Hull FC (H) and Salford Red Devils (Magic Weekend). Overcome all three of those, and they could be on for a new record with bottom club London Broncos (A) next up after those three. No pressure, Leythers!

Tigers’ resurgence continues

They might not have got the result they wanted against Leigh, but the resurgence that Castleford have enjoyed in recent weeks certainly continued. From where they found themselves at the start of this season, pooled in alongside Hull FC and London as the ‘nailed on bottom three’, Craig Lingard’s side have come on leaps and bounds.

He himself described Leigh as a top six side earlier this week, and with how they’re playing at the moment, there’s no shame in losing to the Leopards. Bolting out of the traps and scoring that early try, Cas made life difficult for the visitors throughout the contest at The Jungle.

Given the resources available, we’re firmly of the belief that Tigers chief Lingard is doing a sterling job.  The aim now will be to continue with these performance levels from now until the end of the campaign, and to build ahead of 2025.

‘ROONEY!’ – A star in the making?

If you’d have asked Fletcher Rooney what his perfect home debut in Super League would have been, scoring a try within four minutes would probably have been in his response.

Having sidestepped a Leopards chaser close to his own sticks at the start of the set which saw Cas grab the opening try, the youngster then finished it off in the corner, the highlight of a pretty solid first senior run out on home soil.

There have been rave reviews about Rooney from inside the Tigers’ camp for a few months now, and the supporters at The Jungle were proudly chanting his surname after that try. Based on the evidence we’ve seen, it wouldn’t be a surprise for us to be seeing him in action a few more times before this year is out.

Kit crimes

We’re not sure who decides this, so we’re not sure who’s at fault, but there’s definitely a kit crime here. It’s not the first time they’ve done this on home soil, but Castleford wore their maroon and white ‘tribute’ third shirt for Thursday night’s game while the visitors donned their black and gold away number.

Sure, Cas’ primarily black home kit this year clashes with that black Leigh away kit, but it wouldn’t have clashed if both sides just wore their home kits and the Leopards were in red, would it?

Call us old fashioned, but there’s no need for all these kit changes!