Five takeaways as Leeds Rhinos get better of Castleford Tigers at Headingley

Ben Olawumi 02 Mar 2025 4:51 PM

Leeds Rhinos made it back-to-back victories on Sunday afternoon as they beat Castleford Tigers 38-24 at Headingley.

Here are our five key takeaways from the Round 3 clash…

Rhinos adapt and overcome

Much of the build-up to this one surrounded the players that Leeds had out injured. There was no Brodie Croft, which we already knew, but half-back partner Matt Frawley didn’t make it either due to the gash on his hand suffered in last week’s win at Salford.

Co-captain Cameron Smith was also missing for the first time having been ruled out for the next 10 weeks with a syndesmosis ankle injury.

Rhinos boss Brad Arthur insisted they would ‘go big up the middle’ in his pre-match press conference, and they did just that, helping them to pile points on the board in a 30-minute spell either side of half-time. His side adapting and overcoming will have pleased the Australian greatly.

A moment of madness with ramifications to come

If we’re honest, Sunday afternoon’s game was a largely bland affair which Leeds had wrapped up by half-time.

But there was one moment of madness which we’re likely to hear more about from the Match Review Panel, and it came from a Rhinos player.

Just after the hour-mark, Tom Holroyd had the ball in hand and was brought down close to the Tigers try-line, becoming tangled with George Hill. The front-rower then kept hold of Hill’s arm and continued to twist it into an unnatural position.

Surprisingly, despite a scuffle and complaints from the Tigers players resulting in a review, the officials didn’t see fit to dish out any punishment on the day. It’ll be a nervous wait for Holroyd now.

Fatigued Tigers

Both of these sides played last Saturday, so had the same turnaround time, but Cas looked absolutely flogged from 20 minutes or so in at Headingley.

Praise must go the Rhinos way for their contribution towards that with how frequently they made the Tigers defend their own line, but Danny McGuire won’t be happy with much of what he saw.

The visitors didn’t help their own cause with some really poor sets with the ball in hand from a metre-making point of view. The disparity between the metres that had been made by both sides come half-time was monumental.

They improved in the second half, particularly in the final 10 minutes to claw the scoreboard back a little, but a 14-point margin of defeat flatters them, no doubt about that.

Cas’ miserable run continues

Cas became the fourth club to lose their first three games in Super League this season – following on from Huddersfield Giants, Catalans Dragons and Salford Red Devils. Plenty tipped the Tigers for the wooden spoon this year, and they’ve shown little over the last two rounds in particular to dispel those suggestions.

To make matters worse, Sunday’s loss was their 11th defeat in 12 games, dating back to Round 19 last season when Hull KR beat them at Craven Park.

We know there’s been a full pre-season since then, but their last win came on August 31 against Hull FC. 183 days without a Super League victory now – the equivalent of half a year. Bleak, even bleaker when you add in the Challenge Cup defeat at Bradford Bulls last month.