History of Rugby League in Castleford

All things related to the Castleford Tigers.
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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 23 May 2020, 19:31

Back in the National League after only one season although Cas didn’t actually finish bottom, the wooden spoon belonged to Catalans Dragons but they were exempt from relegation. So Cas began the 2007 season with a firm belief that they could put a side together to achieve that belief especially with Danny Brough continuing at half back. As before two years previously the season started with group matches in then Northern Rail Cup. The first match away to Doncaster Lakers included no fewer than 9 debutants, Michael Wainwright, Stuart Donlan, Richard Owen, Liam Higgins, Tere Glassie, Aven Guttenbeil, Dwayne Barker, Mark Leafa, and a fine young prospect from the club’s academy Joe Westerman. Cas had no problem in disposing of the Lakers. Kirk Dixon signed from Hull FC made his debut in the second match, a local derby at home to Featherstone in front of a splendid crowd of 6,871 as Cas found Fev difficult to break down in the first half as the interval lead of 10-8 suggested. But once Cas got into their stride, it became one way traffic as Cas scored 7 further tries including a hat trick from Stuart Donlan and a brace from both Michael Wainwright and Chris Charles. A further 38-12 home win over Sheffield preceded the return match at Featherstone and this match was much closer as Cas won 22-16. Cas were drawn at home to Lock Lane in the 3rd Round of the Challenge Cup giving themselves the opportunity to give 7 more players their
debuts including Nathan Massey and Liam Watts as Cas won 88-10 with Joe Westerman converting 12 of the 16 tries one of which he scored himself. Cas then cemented winning their group in the National Rail Cup with a 44-6 win at Sheffield and a 64-8 home win against Doncaster. Next up was an away tie in the 4th Round of the Challenge Cup against Bradford Bulls, and Cas certainly didn’t disgrace themselves against one of the pacesetters in Super League only losing 16-24 after a fine second half performance. But the main purpose of the season was to regain their Super League place and Cas started well enough with 5 successive wins scoring a plethora of tries especially at home with home wins over Halifax 46-22, Batley
75-12 and Rochdale 56-6, plus Doncaster away 66-4 and Leigh 32-24. In between that sequence of wins Cas also won their Northern Rail Cup Qualifying Quarterfinal match at home to Workington 50-24. However
the big test was the home League match against Widnes and this time Cas failed miserably going down to a 20-44 defeat. Cas then booked their place in the Semifinals of the Northern Rail Cup with a 42-6 win over Leigh. The next League match looked tricky but Cas won at Halifax 30-14 following that with an easy 56-8 home win against Dewsbury and a 27-15 away win at Sheffield. Tom Saxton made his debut at full back in the 12-18 away defeat at Widnes in the Semifinal of the Northern Rail Cup, and it became obvious that the Vikings would be the greatest threat to Cas’s season. However Cas then beat Whitehaven 44-12, Doncaster
66-4 and Sheffield 52-26 all at home, plus away wins at Batley 42-6, Dewsbury 36-10 and Whitehaven 20-12 before facing Widnes away in what turned out to be the title decider. This time Cas got their revenge for their two previous defeats against the Vikings with a narrow 24-18 win. Cas then finished their League programme in a blaze of glory with a 62-10 home win over Leigh then a record breaking 19 try away rout over Rochdale which included hat tricks for Michael Shenton, Andrew Henderson and Danny Williams plus 2 each from Mark Leafa and Danny Brough who also kicked 11 goals in a magnificent 102-0 win. Cas then as League leaders beat Widnes again this time at home in the National Playoff Qualifying Semifinal 26-8 after the interval score was tight at 4-4, the tries coming from Joe Westerman with 2 and one each from Michael Wainwright and Danny Williams, whilst Danny Brough kicked 5 goals. Widnes reached the Final played at Headingley and before a crowd of 20,814 Cas with a magnificent kicking display from Danny Brough won 42-10 to regain their Super League position. Cas scored 7 tries through Awen Guttenbeil with 2, plus one each from Michael Wainwright, Ryan McGoldrick, Michael Shenton, Joe Westerman and Ryan Clayton whilst
Danny Brough converted 6 of tries and also kicked 2 drop goals. It was to be Danny Brough’s final match for Cas as he had signed for Wakefield for the following season, but in his 35 matches for Cas he had accumulated 358 points. He was top goalscorer for Cas with 122 whilst Kirk Dixon kicked 40 and was also top try scorer with 23. Stuart Donlan scored 20 tries, Michael Shenton 19 and Michael Wainwright 18 as Cas won 17 of their 18 League matches with a total of 860 points. Including all matches Cas scored 1,382 points in 31 matches an average of 44.58 per match. Leeds Rhinos won Super League’s Grand Final 33-6 against St Helens who were League Leaders and also retained the Challenge Cup by beating Catalans Dragons
30-8. Salford were relegated from Super League, whilst Rochdale and Doncaster were relegated from the National League 1 to be replaced by Celtic Crusaders and Featherstone Rovers.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Fumper27 » 23 May 2020, 21:24

Great memories Ken...especially given I played for Lock Lane in that game!!

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Derbyshiretiger » 23 May 2020, 21:38

Ken Smith wrote: 13 Jul 2019, 23:46 As most of you probably know Rugby League was born at a meeting in the George Hotel, Huddersfield in 1895 after the northern rugby clubs voted to break away from the Rugby Union over the broken-time payments of expenses because many players couldn’t afford to continue missing work to play a wholly amateur game without some recompense. Initially it was called the Rugby Northern Union comprising 29 clubs. The new format of Rugby League was played in Castleford from 1896 until 1906 but not by the present club. Manningham were the first Champions though there had been 13 different Champions before the present Castleford club were admitted to the League in 1926 with only Oldham, Wigan and Huddersfield becoming Champions more than twice. There were 16 different Challenge Cup winners during that time with only Huddersfield and Leeds winning the trophy more than twice.

As expected Castleford made a poor start in their 1st Season finishing bottom of the League losing all their 18 away matches and winning only 5 of their home matches, the first being 37-25 against Bradford Northern on the 18th September. They did beat Leeds also 10-9 on the 4th December. The following season showed some improvement with Cas finishing 25th and winning twice away from home 15-0 at Bramley and 5-2 at Dewsbury. They actually won 7 home matches as opposed to 6 defeats with 3 drawn. They even reached the 3rd Round of the Challenge Cup beating Salford away 7-3 and Featherstone at home 3-0 before losing to the eventual League Champions Swinton 0-3 at home.

The following season 1928/29 Cas finished 21st with 26 points from their 34 matches. They also reached the Semifinal of the Yorkshire Cup having defeated Keighley 19-4 at home and York away 8-0 before losing at Featherstone 6-10. They also once reached the Semifinal of the Challenge Cup by beating non-league Whitehaven Recreation 31-7 at home, then sensationally League Champions elect Huddersfield 8-0 also at home. They then beat Wigan Highfield 8-0 at home but then lost 3-9 to Dewsbury at Huddersfield. The 1929/30 season though saw Cas drop to 26th with only 22 points from their 36 matches. It was not unusual for clubs to play 3 matches over 4 days at Christmas, and after losing 4-11 at home to Featherstone on Christmas Day, Cas lost 3-7 at Hunslet on Boxing Day, but beat League Champions elect St.Helens 5-0 at home only two days later.

Cas finished 20th in 1930/31 with 30 points from their 38 matches, although they did the double over Featherstone 7-0 at home on Christmas Day where they actually played 3 matches in 3 days, and 22-6 away on Good Friday where they played 3 matches in 4 days. It was certainly a gruelling time for part-time players in those days.The following season Cas finished 22nd with 29 points from their 38 matches losing all their away matches except for a draw at Hull on Easter Monday. On the bright side though Cas only lost 5 home matches and they did once again reach the Quarterfinal of the Challenge Cup beating Featherstone 6-2 at home and St.Helens Recreation 11-8 away. Note that there were two clubs from St.Helens and Wigan in those days. After beating Recreation, Cas beat second placed St.Helens 5-0 at home in a League match, but a week later lost 2-10 at home to Swinton in the Cup.

Now if the first 6 seasons in the League sounds depressing, the next 7 years showed a vast improvement, and I’ll review those tomorrow.
Hi ken, can you pm me please

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 23 May 2020, 22:36

There was to be a 3 year licence of no relegation at the end of the 2008 season and the Super League was to be extended to 14 clubs. This season was to be known as Super League Xlll and Cas signed 5 new players, Luke Dorn and Michael Korkidas from relegated Salford, Brent Sherwin from Canterbury Bulldogs, Michael Korkidas, Scott Moore on loan from St Helens and Tom Haberecht from Western Suburbs Magpies all of whole made their debuts in the first match of the season at home to Catalans Dragons. However after
leading 12-2 at halftime, it was to be a losing start 14-21. Next up was an away match at Wigan and though
Cas were still in the game at 6-8 down, they eventually lost 16-28. Things got even worse with a 12-64 thumping at Huddersfield followed by 16-22 home defeat to Harlequins. Cas then beat Leeds at home
38-20 before a crowd of 9,459 to get off the mark with 2 tries each from Michael Shenton and Luke Dorn plus one each from Stuart Donlan, Ryan McGoldrick and Joe Westerman who also kicked 5 goals. However 4 more successive defeats at Hull KR 4-20, Wakefield 16-28 and Bradford 4-50, plus a 31-38 home defeat to Warrington placed Cas at rock bottom of the League. Surprisingly Cas then beat St Helens at home
30-24 after before 10-16 behind at the interval with 2 tries from Joe Westerman, and one each from Kirk Dixon, Richard Owenand Luke Dorn. However 5 more successive defeats followed including a Challenge Cup
defeat in London to Harlequins 14-44 and one at the Millennium Stadium In Cardiff against Wakefield 16-54
which was the first inaugural Magic Weekend, though all the magic came from Wakefield in this instance.
The other defeats in this sequence were at home to Hull FC 12-32 and Bradford 24-46, also in Perpignan against Catalans 30-38. Cas broke this losing sequence at Warrington with a 36-28 win, but further away defeats at Hull 14-40 and Leeds 12-18, plus another 16-32 home defeat to Wakefield and a 22-22 home draw with Wigan after leading 14-6 at halftime meant that this looked like being their worst season ever in Super League. However by winning 4 of their final 8 matches saved them from that ignominy. Cas beat Hull KR at home 18-10, then lost 12-68 at St Helens, won away against a weakened Harlequins, lost at home to Huddersfield 14-40 when Mitchell Sargent and Joe Arundel made their debuts, won at Wakefield 48-22 including 2 tries each from Stuart Donlan and Joe Westerman, then lost at Leeds 12-54, beat Warrington at home 44-24 and finally lost at 16-18 home to Bradford in a much improved display when Stuart Donlan, Andrew Henderson, Michael Korkidas, Awen Guttenbeil, Ned Catic, Peter Lupton and Mark Leafa all made their fina appearances. Cas had again finished bottom with only 15 points from their 27 matches and 2 points behind Hull FC. Luke Dorn was the leading try scorer with 19 tries, Michael Shenton and Richard Owen scored 13 and Joe Westerman 12 as well as being second top goalscorer with 28 behind Kirk Dixon with 39. St Helens on the Challenge Cup for the third time in succession beating Hull FC 28-16 and again finished the season top of the League but again lost in the Grand Final to Leeds 16-24. Salford and Celtic Crusaders were both promoted to Super League whilst Gateshead Thunder, Barrow Raiders and Doncaster Lakers were promoted to National League 1 with Dewsbury Rams relegated to National League 2.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Fumper27 » 24 May 2020, 08:50

Ken, love your posts but a few corrections:

2007 - we beat Rochdale 0-106
2008 - the inaugural “Magic Weekend” was in 2007

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 24 May 2020, 14:18

fumper27
You’re quite right about the Rochdale score, I knew full well it was 0-106, don’t know how I missed my mistake on check proofing it. You’re also correct above 2008 being the first Magic Weekend, but I don’t know whether I’ve confused you, but 2008 was the latest year I’ve just reviewed and I mentioned it in that review. Perhaps my opening sentence confused you. I probably should have ended the review with that sentence instead of at the beginning. Anyhow the 2009 season review is coming up soon.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 24 May 2020, 16:49

So here we are with the 2009 season known as Super League XlV and Cas giving debuts to James Evans, Sione Faumuina, Brett Ferres, Stuart Jones, Chris Feather, Kirk Netherton, Dean Widders and of course Rangi Chase in the opening match at home to Harlequins. Sometimes it takes time to gell with so many new players and Cas didn’t quite get it right as they lost 8-12, but they certainly did 2 weeks later at Wigan where they surprised the Warriors by winning 28-22 with 2 tries from Brett Ferres, and one each from Joe Westerman, Michael Shenton and Kirk Dixon who also converted 4 of them. I don’t usually give my opinions of players, but Kirk Dixon has always been one of my favourite players around that era. Cas were now full of confidence as they swept aside Salford at home 52-16 and followed that with a win in Perpignan a week later 24-22 against Catalans. So it was something of a surprise to lose at home to Huddersfield 24-26, but the Giants were to have a good season that year. Cas seemed unperturbed though as they beat Hull FC away with a Brett Sherwin drop goal sealing a 19-18 win, and followed that up by beating Bradford Bulls at home 28-26 before a crowd of 9,185 despite being 10-16 behind at halftime. So far all but the Salford game had been close affairs, but not the 4th Round Challenge Cup match at Keighley where Cas won 64-20. The season then became a lose one/win one scenario as a home crowd of 10,155 must have been disappointed to watch Cas lose 6-35 to Wakefield on Good Friday. The made some amends by winning 28-6 at Warrington on Easter Monday, but 2 games in 4 days seemed to take its toll more on Cas than I did on the next visitors St Helens as Cas were swept aside 22-68. A win in Wales followed as Cas beat Celtic Crusaders 34-22 but next came the 2nd Magic Weekend this time at Murrayfield. Cas gave as good as they got up to the interval against Hull FC with the score level 6-6 at halftime, but the Arlie Birds extracted revenge for their earlier defeat by Cas as the Tigers lost 16-24. A week later Cas had a 5th Round Challenge
Cup match to contend with against National League Club Halifax at home. With Cas leading 16-12 at the interval it was expected that the Tigers would pull away in the second half, but it didn’t turn out like that as the teams finished level after 80 minutes 34-34, and it took a Brett Sherwin golden point drop good to settle the match. Cas then lost their next 5 matches including a Quarterfinal Challenge Cup match at Huddersfield 14-16, home defeats to Leeds 22-24 and Warrington 18-34, and away defeats at Hull KR and St Helens where Jordan Thompson made his debut. Cas then avenged their two defeats against Huddersfield by beating them at what was then called the John Smith Stadium 13-6, but Catalans then avenged their home defeat in Perpignan by winning 20-22. However Cas then went on a 4 match winning streak. First up was at Odsal where Cas completed the double over Bradford Bulls albeit in another high scoring 2 point margin 40-38 with a brace of tries each from Michael Shenton and Rangi Chase with single tries from Jordan Thompson, Dean Widders, and Joe Westerman who also kicked 6 goals. Cas then beat Hull FC at home 40-18, Salford away 18-12, then Wakefield Trinity at Belle Vue 20-12. Cas were supposed to make that 5 successive wins at home to Hull KR and indeed it looked that way with Cas leading 20-18 at the interval, but Cas folded in the second half to a 28-46 defeat and so began another losing run, this time of three matches with a heavy 12-76 defeat at Leeds, then a narrow 26-29 home defeat against Wigan. Cas having beaten Harlequins 66-12 away in the previous season, then won there by a cricket score 48-0 again this season before ending their League campaign with a 35-22 home victory over Celtic Crusaders 35-22 which earned them 7th place a playoff place. It could could and maybe should have been better. In fact Cas won 10 of their away matches, but only 4 of their home matches losing 5 of them by a one score margin. Winning those 5 matches would have guaranteed a top 3 finish but conceded 702 points was only exceeded by Harlequins, Salford and Celtic Crusaders who were to be called Crusaders FC in the ensuing season. In the Playoffs Cas had to play an Elimination match at Wigan which they lost 12-18. Top try scorers
were Michael Shenton and Kirk Dixon with 19. Rangi Chase scored 14 tries, Brett Ferres 12 and James Evans 11,
whilst Kirk Dixon kicked 66 goals and Joe Westerman 41. Leeds Rhinos were the League leaders and for the third year running beat St Helens in the Grand Final this time 18-10, whilst Warrington beat Huddersfield 25-16 in the Challenge Cup Final. No relegation from Super League of course, but Barrow headed National League 1 whilst Gateshead and Doncaster were relegated to be replaced by Dewsbuty and Keighley.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 24 May 2020, 17:09

Line 15 should read ‘They’ not ‘The’ and line 16 in the same sentence ‘take its toll on Cas than it did’ not ‘l did’.
Sorry but having prostate cancer, tiredness sometimes takes over.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 24 May 2020, 20:01

Season 2010 known as Super League XV couldn’t have started better for Cas with a visit to Headingley to meet the 4 times Grand Final Winners Leeds Rhinos and with Steve Snitch making his debut Cas from 6-10 down at halftime scored 3 unanswered tries in the second half from Joe Westerman, Brett Sherwin and Dean Widders to win 24-10. It was to be hoped that Cas could tighten up their defence, but unfortunately it was not to be as Cas lost their next 4 matches with home defeats against Challenge Cup holders Warrington 16-28, Hull KR 20-24 when Shaun Ainscough made his debut, and away thumpings at Bradford 22-41 and Hull FC 22–42. For the second year running though Cas won in Perpignan against Catalans
20-16 with tries from Michael Cooper making his debut, Rangi Chase, Stuart Jones and Michael Wainwright.
However Cas then lost at 22-36 home to Wigan before struggling to beat Crusaders RL at home 22-16. Then came 3 consecutive League defeats at Wakefield 6-19 and Huddersfield 0-24 either side of the usual home thrashing by St Helens 18-52. But worse was to follow in the Challenge Cup as Cas having led National League club Barrow Raiders 18-12 at home, Cas succumbed to a 28-34 defeat though it has to be said that last year’s National League Winners thoroughly deserved their win. Cas bounced back from their ignominy though by beating Salford at home 30-12 and then winning for the first time at the Magic Weekend at Murrayfield against Catalans 34-18 with 2 tries each from Ryan McGoldrick and Brent Sherwin plus one each from Michael Wainwright and James Evans plus 5 conversions from Joe Westerman. However Cas then lost their next 3 matches in London against Harlequins where both James Evans and
Brent Sherwin made their final appearances, at home to Hull FC where Cas surrendered a 16-10 halftime lead to lose 26-34, and at Wigan 22-38. Cas then beat Catalans Dragons for the third time this season
24-20. This match proved to be the start of a mini revival as Cas won at Salford 28-22 and followed that up with home wins over Bradford 28-22 coming from 8-10 behind at the interval and Huddersfield 44-18 where
Craig Huby and Rangi Chase both scored a brace of tries. Cas then lost 30-54 at Warrington before beating Wakefield at home with a tremendous second half display turning a 6-10 halftime deficit into a
40-16 victory with both Kirk Dixon and Dean Widders scoring a couple of tries each. To reach the playoffs for the second year running Cas needed a strong finish to the season, but it didn’t materialise as Cas lost their next 3 matches at Neath where they lost to Crusaders 24-30, at Craven Park where they lost 26-28 to Hull KR, and at home to Leeds when Ryan Clayton played his last game in a 6-38 defeat. Cas won their penultimate game 40-28 at home to Harlequins before losing at St Helens 30-40 where Liam Higgins, Michael Wainwright, Mitchell Sargent and Joe Westerman played their last games for Cas. Westerman had played in 103 games for Cas, scoring 43 tries and kicking 175 goals for a total of 522 points. Cas finished 9th
with 22 points from their 27 matches with only 3 players scoring a double figure of tries, Michael Shenton, Michael Wainwright and Joe Westerman with 10 each, the latter signing off his career at Cas with 86 goals in the year. Wigan were League Leaders and beat St Helens 22-10 in the Grand Final, whilst Warrington again won the Challenge Cup with an easy 30-6 win over Leeds. Featherstone were National League Leaders, whilst Whitehaven and Keighley were relegated to be replaced by Hunslet Hawks and York City Knights in the ensuing season.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 24 May 2020, 23:07

Cas mania
I was half way through my review and observations of the 2011 season which I admit was probably longer than previous entries, when all of a sudden the Board Rules appeared on this subject and my post was deleted. I can’t think why that should be as I only reviewed the Challenge Cup Quarterfinal win against Huddersfield as a spectator and mentioned that speculation was rife as to whom Cas supporters would prefer to meet in the Semifinal be it Leeds, Wigan or Saints and that on my way home to Redcar it was confirmed that Leeds would be our Semifinal opponents when all of a sudden the Board Rules page appeared on the screen and my post was deleted. The only reason I can think of was that this particular post was rather long winded, so I’m now wondering whether there is a veto after so much space has been used on one particular subject. I’d like to hear your views on that and if there is a maximum number of lines used what that number may be? If not is there anyway that my blog can be restored?

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 25 May 2020, 15:22

The 2011 season was the third and final year of the initial Super League Licences with no promotion nor relegation. It was known as Super League XVl and for the first and only time began with what was to be eventually called the Magic Weekend. It returned to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Cas’s opponents were Wakefield. Cas introduced 3 new faces for this fixture (Richie Mathers, Nick Youngquest and Jake Emmitt) and were always in control as they won 40-20 with Dean Widders scoring 2 of Cas’s 8 tries. The opening fixtures appeared to be kind to Cas as the next 3 matches were all at home. Firstly against Huddersfield they introduced Martin Aspinwall and Daryl Clark as Cas won 18-12 with Nick Youngquest scoring a couple of tries. Next up although 12-14 behind at the interval they beat Hull KR 27-14 in front of a healthy crowd of 8,537 where both Nick Youngquest and Daryl Clark scored tries, then it was Catalans and again Cas were behind at halftime 12-18 but eventually won 34-24. This was the first time in Super League that Cas had won their opening 4 matches, but they were beaten 14-18 at Bradford in the next match. Cas then won their next 3 matches to top the table, thrashing Crusaders RL 56-16 at home with a ten try extravaganza including 2 apiece from Daryl Clark and Kirk Dixon who also converted 8 of the tries. A fine 20-18 win away to Hull FC followed with Willie Isa scoring a brace, then Cas walloped Salford at home with 9 tries in a 52-20 win. Both Joe Arundel and Nick Youngquest scored a couple of tries whilst Kirk Dixon converted 8 of them. Cas had to come from behind in London to claim a 26-26 draw where Richard Owen scored a couple of tries, but still it was a good start to the season with 15 points points from the first 9
games. Cas ought to have extended their fine start to the season as they built up an 18-4 halftime lead before a crowd of 9,020 at home to Wakefield, but Trinity scored 4 converted tries after the interval as Cas were beaten 24-28. That was the first of 4 successive League defeats as they lost at Widnes 20-22 against
St Helens 20-22, followed by 2 damaging defeats, 6–48 at home to Leeds before a disappointed crowd of 9,860 and an away 0-62 thrashing at Warrington. In between this hiatus though Cas won 72-10 at Rochdale in the 3rd Round of the Challenge Cup and afterwards won 20-18 at Wakefield in the next round although it took a Kirk Dixon penalty in the 9th minute of extra time to achieve that victory. Up next Cas annihilated Harlequins 56-24 with another 10 try performance with Rangi Chase scoring 4 of them and Kirk Dixon converting 8 of them. Cas lost 18-40 at Halifax against Huddersfield before the home match against Wigan. Cas were 4-22 down at the interval, and early in the second half Pat Richards, Wigan’s left winger, was in oceans of room with no Cas player any where near him when he inexplicably dropped the ball as he approached the three quarter line. Cas would have been dead and buried 24 points down had he scored, but Cas then scored 4 tries the last of which Richard Mathers scored almost in the last minute to level the scores 22-22. Unfortunately Kirk Dixon missed the conversion from a difficult angle and the match finished all square. Cas then won 15-8 at Salford but lost the following 3 matches, 20-54 in Perpignan against Catalans, 18-48 at home to Warrington and 16-26 at Wigan. Cas then beat Bradford 34-30 at home with Joe Arundel scoring a brace of tries and followed that up with a 26-20 win in Wales against Crusaders RL.
It had been a 5 week wait before Cas entertained Huddersfield in the Quarterfinal of the Challenge Cup and Cas duly confirmed their place into the SemIfinals with a;tense 22-18 win with tries from Jordan Thompson, Danny Orr, Ryan Hudson and Kirk Dixon who also kicked 3 goals. It would be a tough match whoever Cas were drawn against in the Semifinals, Leeds, Saints or Wigan. But at least an encounter with the Rhinos would surely be played in Yorkshire. Before that though Cas had a home encounter with St Helens, and as usual Cas were beaten 26-46. So on to Doncaster for the Semifinal before a sellout crowd of 13,158 and the interval arrived with Cas doing well to be only 0-2 behind to a Keith Sinfield penalty. Early in the second haif though Rangi Chase scored a wonderful try jinking through a gap in his own half he threw a couple of dummies as he made for the try line completely outwitting Brent Webb as he touched down in the corner. Kirk Dixon missed the conversion, but Cas were now on top and Dixon kicked a couple of tricky penalties to give Cas an 8-2 lead. A Kallum Watkins try reduced the lead to 8-6, but with time running out Danny McGuire looked like scoring for the Rhinos until Ryan McGoldrick instinctively threw out an arm around McGuire’s shoulder dislodging the ball, but referee Phil Bentham ruled that the tackle was fractionally high and awarded the Rhinos a penalty which Cas disputed as Sinfield duly converted to make the score 8-8. Even then Cas had a chance to snatch victory as Rangi Chase fluffed a drop kick in front of the posts to send the match into extra time, but another Sinfield penalty converted in the 2nd minute of extra time meant an 8-10 defeat for Cas. That virtually settled the season for Cas as 6 days later they lost again to Leeds at Headingley 0-56, and although they turned a 22-24 halftime deficit at Wakefield into a 34-30 win, Cas finished the season losing at home to Hull FC 18-50 and then 24-26 away to Hull KR to finish 9th with 26 points from 27 matches. Top try scorer for Cas was Brett Ferres with 15 followed by Rangi Chase and Kirk Dixon each with 13, with the latter also kicking 102 goals. Head coach Terry Matterson returned to Australia at the end of the season. Warrington finished as League Leaders but didn’t make the Grand Final neither did runners-up Wigan. Leeds from 5th position beat 3rd placed St Helens 32-16, whilst Wigan beat Leeds 28-18 to win the Challenge Cup. Featherstone again topped the National League 1 table, whilst Toulouse in only their 3rd season finished bottom and resigned, Swinton and Keighley were both promoted to make an even number of clubs for the following season.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 25 May 2020, 22:56

Season 2012 known as Super League XVll was the first season of the 2nd Licencing Franchise, but Crusaders RL (formerly Celtic Crusaders)withdrew from the bidding process the day before the announcement of the clubs. Widnes Vikings had previously been allocated a licence which had some of the lower placed clubs sweating on which club Widnes would replace, so in fact the only difference in the make up was to be Widnes instead of Crusaders who reformed as North Wales Crusaders in National League 2. Cas’s first match was away to Salford in their new stadium to be televised on Sky Sports TV. Under normal circumstances the match would have probably been postponed because the pitch was covered by about an inch of snow, but it went ahead and Cas won 24-10 in the slippery conditions. Cas fielded 3 debutants, Lee Mitchell, Steve Nash and Josh Griffin who scored one of the 4 tries, Richard Owen scoring 2 and Adam Milner the other. However Cas lost the next 7 matches against Bradford at home 12-20, Catalans away
20-28, Wigan at home 4-46, Leeds at home 14-46, London Broncos (reverting to their former name)away 16-42, Huddersfield away 4-42 and Hull FC at home 28-42, a terrible start for new Head Coach Ian Millward.
The only new debutant in those 7 matches appeared to be Grant Millington against Leeds which attracted a crowd of 9,237. Cas did manage to beat Hull KR 34-30 at home with Nick Youngquest scoring a couple of tries and then won 34-16 at Wakefield with 2 tries from Richard Owen and one each from Grant Millington, Steve Snitch, Brett Ferres and Olivier Holmes. They then lost 12-18 at home to St Helens before facing Daryl
Powell’s Featherstone Rovers away in the 4th Round of the Challenge Cup where Rangi Chase was sent off in a 16-23 defeat. Cas then lost heavily 6-54 at Warrington before beating Widnes 36-12 at home with 3 tries from Nick Youngquest, 2 from Daryl Clark and one each from Brett Ferres and Jordan Thompson. The next 3 matches were lost 12-70 away to Hull KR, 26-32 at the Magic Weekend match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, and then 33-46 at Odsal against Bradford Bulls. Cas then beat Salford City Reds 34-30 with a hat trick of tries from Danny Orr, a brace from Nick Youngquest, and one each from Jordan Thompson and Craig Huby. Two more defeats followed at Leeds 22-40 and Widnes 10-40 before winning again 52-6 at home to Huddersfield where new recruit from Hull FC had a storming debut with 10 goals and a try. However Cas lost all of their last 7 matches, home defeats to Warrington 26-40, Wakefield 12-40, London Broncos 20-42 and Catalans 26-46, plus away defeats at Wigan 16-40, St Helens 12-44 and Hull FC 10-36.
It had been a disastrous season with only 6 wins in 27 matches, and finishing 13th level with bottom club Widnes. Top try scorer was Nick Youngquest with 17, whilst Josh Griffin scored 14 and Richard Owen 10. Kirk Dixon kicked 39 goals, Danny Orr 17 and Jamie Ellis 13. Wigan were League Leaders but again didn’t make the Grand Final; Leeds Rhinos won it again coming from 5th position beating Warrington 26-18. However Warrington beat Leeds 35-18 in the Challenge Cup Final. Featherstone topped the National League table for the 3rd consecutive year. No club was relegated as National League 1 was to be increased from 10 clubs to 14, so Doncaster, Barrow, Workington and Whitehaven were all promoted.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 25 May 2020, 23:08

Sorry in line 21, Cas lost 32-46 at Odsal, not 33-46, and in line 24 the new recruit from Hull FC who kicked 10 goals was Jamie Ellis.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 27 May 2020, 15:12

Season 2013 known as Super League XVlll saw Cas start with 5 newcomers, Jordan Tansey at fullback, Justin Carney on the right wing, Jake Webster at left centre, and Lee Gilmour and Weller Hauraki both as second row forwards for the match at Warrington, but Cas were just not good enough and lost 24-40. Next up were Leeds Rhinos at the Jungle and before a crowd of 9,103 Cas won 14-12 with tries from Jordan Tansey and Jake Webster adding 3 goals. However that’s as good as it got for Cas as they then lost 12-38 at Bradford, drew 17-17 at home to Catalans, and then lost their next 7 matches 22-28 at home to Wigan,
0-52 at Hull, 12-26 at home to London Broncos despite leading 12-6 at halftime, 22-26 away to Hull KR, were
losing 16-37 at home to Wakefield when a floodlight failure after 73 minutes prevented any more damage to Cas although the result stood, 18-48 at St Helens and 24-40 at home to Huddersfield with boos ringing throughout the stadium. Three days later Head Coach Ian Millward was dismissed much to the joy of the Castleford fans. His overall record had shown only 7 wins in his 39 League and Cup matches, and he just had to go. Danny Orr took over as Caretaker Coach and won his first match as Cas fought back from a halftime deficit 16-26 at home to Widnes to win 28-26 before a sparse crowd of only 3,986. The next match was away to Leeds in the 4th Round of the Challenge Cup which had Cas leading 6-4 at the interval but eventually losing 12-28. Cas then lost 30-34 at Salford, though the home side had 14 players on the pitch for the last 5 minutes resulting their being bizarrely deducted 2 points instead of the match being awarded to Cas. Danny Orr’s last match as Caretaker Coach resulted in a 32-24 win at home to Hull KR with Justin Carney scoring a couple of tries, but it was also to be the last match for Lee Gilmour after only 13 appearances. Two days later Daryl Powell was appointed Chief Coach with Danny Orr as Assistant Coach. Powell’s first match in charge was a trip to Perpignan to face Catalans and Cas weren’t doing very well as they were 6-30 behind at halftime, but 4 second half tries from Justin Carney, Jordan Tansey, Jordan Thompson and Daryl Clark almost turned the match round but not quite enough as Cas lost 30-39. Daryl Powell’s first win in charge came at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester on the first day of the Magic Weekend as an entertaining match was won by Cas 49-24 with 4 tries from Kirk Dixon, one of which was a tremendous leap in midair to touch down in the corner. Cas probably should have won in London 7 days later as they lead lead the Broncos 16-10 at halftime, but in the had to settle for a 30-30 draw. Cas then lost
24-42 at Headingley to Leeds, but won their next 2 matches 30-28 at home to Hull FC after a marvellous comeback from being 6-16 behind at halftime with a spectacular length of the field try from James Clare, then a magnificent 18-4 win at Wigan with tries from Grant Millington, James Clare and Kirk Dixon who also added 3 goals. Cas then lost three more games at home to St Helens where they squandered a 16-12 halftime lead to lose 24-40, then 32-48 at Huddersfield where Justin Carney scored 2 tries, and at home to Warrington where again they allowed a 24-12 interval lead to a 30-40 defeat. Cas then almost finished the season with a flourish as they won 42-38 at Widnes with 2 more tries from Justin Carney, 46-34 at home to Bradford Bulls where Adam Milner scored a brace and Kirk Dixon kicked 7 goals, and at home to Salford
44-30 where Justin Carney, by now christened ‘The Tank on the Flank’ scored a hat trick of tries. The last match of the season though was a 32-36 defeat at Wakefield in which James Clare scored 4 tries and where Jordan Thompson and Rangi Chase played their last games for Cas, the latter having controversially been introduced previously to Salford fans wearing the red of his new club whilst still a Cas player. There certainly had been an improvement in results since Daryl Powell had taken over as Cas had taken 13 points from their last 13 matches to finish 12th with 20 points overall from their 27 matches. Justin Carney was top try scorer with 21 from 20 matches and Kirk Dixon scored 11. Michael Shenton on his return to Cas from St Helens disappointingly only scored 5 in his 27 matches. Jamie Ellis was the top goalscorer with 59 whilst Kirk Dixon kicked 41. Huddersfield were League Leaders but didn’t make the Grand Final as 4th placed Wigan
beat Warrington 30-16. Wigan also won the Challenge Cup beating Hull FC 16-0 in the Final. Featherstone topped National League 1 for the 4th consecutive year whilst Hunslet were relegated with York whose future looked in doubt as they needed to find a new ground, with North Wales Crusaders and Rochdale Hornets taking their place in the following season.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 27 May 2020, 15:25

Line 5 should have shown Jamie Ellis adding 3 goals.

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 29 May 2020, 15:58

In the words of Neil Diamond “Where it began, I can’t begin to knowing, but then I know it’s going strong. Was in the spring, and the spring became the summer; who’d have believed you’d come along. Sweet CASTLEFORD”. It was almost prophetic that the first verse of Sweet Caroline could have been taken up by Cas fans, because who’d have believed that Daryl coming along should show such a transformation from the short period of Ian Millward’s reign as Chief Coach? The first sign of what was to come was in the two warm up games against York and Bradford when Cas scored over 60 points against both of them prior to the 2014 season also known as Super League XlX. As the first match of the season was to be a return to
Odsal to take on Bradford Bulls, had the 66-10 win in the first encounter only 2 weeks before been a harbinger of what was to come? Well not exactly, as Cas the halftime score of 6-6 suggested that in Super
League Bradford would be much more formidable, but Cas pulled away in the second half to win 36-18 with tries from Weller Hauraki, Justin Carney, Luke Dorn, Grant Millington, Daryl Clark and Kirk Dixon who also
kicked 6 goals. Daryl Clark had actually been sold to Warrington to save Cas from going into liquidation,
but allowed to spend the whole season with Cas on loan. Similarly Marc Sneyd joined Cas on a season’s loan from Salford after the Lancashire club had signed Rangi Chase from Cas. Other players making their
debuts were Liam Finn signed from Featherstone, Frankie Mariano from Wakefield, and Scott Wheeldon from London Broncos. The first home match for Cas was the visit of Catalans which Cas won 32-6 with Justin Carney scoring a hat trick of tries and Marc Sneyd taking over the goal kicking duties converting 4. Cas then beat Hull KR 30-10 at Craven Park with a hat trick from Richard Owen, followed by a remarkable home match against Wigan in which the warriors seemed to have won the match with a drop goal in the last minute, only for Cas to retaliate with a last minute try to win 36-31, Luke Dorn scoring a brace of tries. Next
up was a home match against Hull FC before a Sunday crowd of 9,867 as Cas, probably not at their best, were 6-12 behind at the interval but eventually won 19-16. With 5 wins from their first 5 matches Cas were top of the League as Sweet Caroline blazed out for the second week running. At Salford Cas took the lead but eventually lost 16-23 for their first defeat of the season, but took their frustrations out in London against the Broncos with a comprehensive 54-6 win where both Michael Shenton and Justin Carney scored a couple of tries each and Jamie Ellis kicking 9 goals. Batley were brushed aside in the Challenge Cup 48-10,
and Cas seemed to have the game at home to St Helens stitched up at halftime with a 24-6 lead and indeed even after the full time hooter had sounded, Saints managed somehow to keep the ball alive and eventually the pressure told as Cas conceded a try to lose 28-30. However Cas pulled off an Easter double
by easily winning 43-20 at Wakefield on Good Friday with Daryl Clark, Scott Wheeldon and Richard Owen in his last match each scoring twice. On Easter Monday with a brilliant display beat Warrington at home 40-6
with Michael Shenton scoring a hat trick and James Clare scoring twice. Sheffield Eagles were disposed of in the 5th Round of the Challenge Cup 60-16 with the minimum of fuss but at Huddersfield in the next League match a Danny Brough drop goal separated the teams as Cas lost 28-29. Before a home crowd of 9,208 Cas then let a 14-12 interval lead against Leeds slip away as they failed to score in the second half and ultimately lost 14-22. However another fine win 50-12 in the Magic Weekend at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester against Wakefield with 2 tries apiece from Daryl Clark, Justin Carney and Marc Sneyd who also
kicked 7 goals sent the Cas fans home happy. Lee Jewitt made his debut in this match. Cas then found themselves 10-12 behind at home to Widnes, but a brace of tries from Luke Dorn turned the game around
as Cas won 34-22, and Luke Dorn kept up his great form with a hat trick of tries a week later as Cas beat Hull KR at home 54-12. The Quarterfinals of the Challenge Cup were next up and in atrocious conditions Cas surprised Wigan with a 16-4 away win. Six days later the two teams met again at the same venue, but Cas lost 6-46 following that up with 16-38 trouncing at St Helens 9 days later. Cas then struggled to beat
Salford at home 14-10, but then won 40-20 at Widnes on their artificial pitch with a Daryl Clark hat trick of tries and a couple from Michael Shenton. Cas then beat Huddersfield 44-30 at home with a couple of tries from Liam Finn. Then followed a couple of drawn matches away from home, 24-24 at Leeds and 18-18 at Hull where Cas found themselves behind for much of the match. London Broncos were then swamped at the Jungle 64-18 including 3 tries from Justin Carney and 2 each from Luke Dorn and Kirk Dixon. The
Semifinal of the Challenge Cup was to played at Leigh, and Cas easily brushed aside Widnes 28-6 before a
crowd of 12,005 as tries from Liam Finn, Daryl Clark, Kirk Dixon, Jamie Ellis and Jake Webster saw Cas reach their first Final for 22 years. Cas rested several players for the match at Warrington and duly lost 10-48 as they prepared for the Challenge Cup Final against Leeds Rhinos at the new Wembley Stadium. However before a crowd of 77,914 Cas just didn’t turn up Marc Sneyd’s kicking game was particularly poor as he was substituted for Jamie Ellis, but Cas still lost 10-23. Cas though still had a chance of heading the League with 3 matches remaining especially as 2 of them were at home. Already relegated Bradford Bulls didn’t provide too much of a problem as Cas won 32-18 despite an unimpressive performance. Wakefield who had struggled all season were next up and Cas seemed well on top with a 22-10 interval lead before a crowd of 9,182, but then got the wobbles as Trinity fought back to cut the deficit to a mere 4 points but Cas held out to win 26-22 with 2 tries from James Clare. Results went favourably for Cas before the trip to Perpignan to end the League season. All Cas had to do was beat Catalans and they would snatch the title over St Helens on points difference, but Cas never looked like winning and lost 6-28 to finish 4th, two points behind Saints and a point behind both Wigan and Huddersfield. Cas were annihilated 0-41 at St Helens in the First Round of the Playoffs, but still had a second chance in the Second Round at home to Warrington, but had really shot their bolt as they lost 14-30. It was the final match for both loanees Daryl Clark and Marc Sneyd as they left for Warrington and Hull FC respectively. Also for Craig Huby, Weller Hauraki and Kirk Dixon as Justin Carney was top try scorer with 24, followed by Luke Dorn with 19, Michael Shenton 18, Daryl Clark 16, Kirk Dixon 15 and James Clare 11. Top goal scorer was Marc Sneyd with 116 for a grand total of 262 points. Kirk Dixon’s career record of 1,068 points in 188 matches was outstanding with 95 tries and 344 goals. St Helens won the Grand Final for the first time in 8 years as they beat Wigan 14-6. Bradford Bulls and LondonBroncos
were both relegated as Super League was reduced to 12 clubs once more for the following season, as were Swinton and Barrow from National League 1 where Leigh finished League Leaders.

Finn, Daryl Clark,

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Fumper27 » 29 May 2020, 18:52

I don’t recall the conditions at Wigan in the cup as atrocious???

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by North Leeds Tiger » 30 May 2020, 13:35

Heavy rain throughout all of the match

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Fumper27 » 30 May 2020, 18:40

North Leeds Tiger wrote: 30 May 2020, 13:35 Heavy rain throughout all of the match
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YImyQ0dj7J8

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Re: History of Rugby League in Castleford

Post by Ken Smith » 30 May 2020, 23:06

Season 2015 known as Super League XXl now back to only 12 clubs competing saw an innovation of as well as each club playing each other once home and away plus the Magic Weekend after 23 matches, the League table then frozen with the top 8 playing each other once more in the Super 8s in which the top 4 would have 4 home games and 3 away games whilst the 5th to 8th teams would have 3 home games and 4 away games. Thereafter the top 4 would participate in the playoffs with the team finishing 1st having a home tie against the 4th placed team, whilst the 2nd placed team would have home advantage against the 3rd placed team with the winners playing in the Grand Final. Meanwhile the teams finishing 8th to 12th after 23 matches would play the top 4 Championship teams in a mini-League once each starting with zero points and the top 3 would participate in Super League in the following season along with a playoff match winner between the 4th and 5th placed team in this mini-League called the Middle 8s. As for Cas they included 4 debutants in their opening home match before a crowd of 10,728 against Wakefield - Denny Solomona, Luke Gale, Junior Moors and Steve Crossley. At halftime Cas led 16-6 but the Wildcats fought back with 3 converted tries resulting in a 22-24 defeat for the Tigers. Defeats in the next 2 matches in Perpignan against Catalans 12-13 in which Ben Roberts made his debut and 14-21 at St Helens in which Mike
McMeeken made his debut wasn’t the start that Cas needed. However Cas made slight amends by beating Wigan at home 42-14 in the next match when Justin Carney scored 2 of the 7 tries got Cas off the mark, although a 0-22 at Huddersfield was a setback. Cas had a habit of finding it difficult to score against the top teams especially away from home, but at home were more successful as they won both of their next 2 home matches against Salford where Justin Carney scored a brace in a 30-16 win and Luke Gale scored a couple of tries in the 20-14 win against Hull FC before a crowd of 9,774. The next match was another home match but Cas lost it 12-26 against Leeds before a crowd of 11,235 although Michael Shenton scored a couple of tries. Next up Cas recorded their first away win of the season 22-14 with a splendid performance against Warrington and consolidated that by beating Hull KR at home 25-4. Cas then surprisingly lost 16-46
at Widnes, but continued their mini recovery by winning 22-20 at Salford where Ashley Gibson scored a brace. Again though Cas failed to trouble the scorers as they lost 0-28 at Wigan, then lost away to Hull FC
14-40 in the Challenge Cup before succumbing to a 16-24 home defeat to Huddersfield. However things picked up at the Magic Weekend at St James’s Park, Newcastle where Cas extracted ample revenge for the
opening day defeat to Wakefield by beating the Wildcats 58-20 in a magnificent display with 4 tries from Denny Solomona and a hat trick from Ashley Gibson. That win was the first of a 5 match winning run as in Jordan Tansey’s last match Cas won 30-22 at Craven Park against Hull KR and at Headingley 31-24 against Leeds where Denny Solomona scored a couple of tries to avenge the home defeat against the Rhinos in April. Then followed what arguably might be considered the match of the season against St Helens as Cas
10-18 behind at halftime fought back to level the scores at 24-24, and with time running out were bombarding the Saints line with apparent little chance of success when Ben Roberts received the ball after the hooter sounded and scored a magnificent drop goal to win the match 25-24. Cas then gave Gadwin Springer his debut from the bench as they beat Widnes at home 34-20 with Denny Solomona scoring a hat
trick of tries. The winning run ended as Cas narrowly lost 18-21 away to Hull FC where Denny Solomona scored another couple of tries, but order was restored at Wakefield after a close first half with Cas leading they absolutely blew the Wildcats away in the second half with Justin Carney scoring 4 tries and Luke Dorn 2 as they won 58-20. The 23 League season finished though on a sour note as Cas lost at 6-44 at home to
Warrington. Nevertheless Cas entered the Super 8 with a 36-30 home win against Hull FC with Paul McShane making his debut and Michael Shenton scoring 4 tries, and followed that up with a 17-16 home win against Warrington with 2 more Justin Carney tries thus gaining some revenge for the defeat against the Warriors only 18 days beforehand. However Carney and Liam Finn made their final appearances in Perpignan as Cas were beaten 26-44 and all hope of a playoff place extinguished. They then lost 26-40 at Huddersfield and 38-42 at home to St Helens in a 13 try extravaganza in which both Luke Dorn and Ben Roberts scored a couple of tries each. Cas then won away to Leeds 29-22 including 2 Luke Gale tries, but the season ended on a sour note as Cas lost 12-47 at Wigan to finish a respectable 5th with 32 points albeit
6 points short of a playoff place. Top try scorers were Justin Carney and Denny Solomona with 18 each, followed by Michael Shenton with 14, Luke Gale 11 (who also kicked 102 goals)and Luke Dorn 10. Leeds Rhinos completed a clean sweep of the silverware by winning the League Leaders Trophy, beating Wigan Warriors
22-20 in the Grand Final and annihilating Hull KR 50-0 in the Challenge Cup Final.

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