Peter Smith's Leeds Rhinos player ratings from 38-24 derby win v Castleford Tigers

Rhinos were 38-6 ahead with 17 minutes left, before Tigers scored the final three tries to make the score respectable at 38-24. That will disappoint Leeds coach Brad Arthur - and give some encouragement to Castleford boss Danny McGuire - but Leeds were by far the better team for the most part.

With Brodie Croft, Matt Frawley and Cameron Smith all missing through injury, Rhinos went big – with three props in the starting side, including Keenan Palasia at loose-forward – and on the back of four successive penalties, plus a similar number of set-restarts and a couple of drop-outs, they had all the first half territory. Even so, their 18 points before the break all came in the second quarter.

Tigers had a couple of six-agains themselves, but only one set near Rhinos’ line in the opening 40 and that came from a penalty. It was a similar story after the resumption, until Rhinos took their foot off and gas and/or the visitors suddenly got their act together late in the contest.

Leeds thought they’d gone ahead after 17 minutes through Riley Lumb, but referee Marcus Griffiths said no and video assistant Tom Grant agreed the winger had dropped the ball in Sam Wood’s tackle as he attempted to touch down at full stretch. The first try came five minutes after that when Jake Connor – Leeds’ best player – displayed some footwork on the final tackle and managed to get the ball down, as agreed by the two officials.

They went back-to-back, Keenan Palasia crashing over for his first Leeds try. Connor provided the pass after a one-two with James Bentley. The third try came via an unexpected source, three minutes before the interval. Ash Handley dabbed a lovely kick behind the defence and his fellow centre Harry Newman ran through to touch down.

Another kick from a three-quarter - Ryan Hall this time - was at the heart of Leeds’ fourth try, immediately after the interval. Newman tapped it on to Connor and he sent in a jubilant Jack Sinfield, who played at scrum-half, with Morgan Gannon slotting into the stand-off role. Handley stepped through from James Bentley’s pass on 49 minutes to make it 28-0, but Cas got off the mark with a lovely try, scored by Fletcher Rooney from George Lawler’s break.

The next touchdown was bizarre. Handley made a break and Andy Ackers would have scored from the pass inside, but was accidentally obstructed by the ref, who ended up on the deck. To their credit, Leeds played on and Bentley and Sinfield combined to send Hall over.

Connor kicked his fifth and final goal and Lumb bagged a deserved try with a good finish, but then an interception by Zac Cini from James McDonnell sparked Tigers’ purple patch which also saw Jeremiah Simbiken slice through and Innes Senior score an outstanding long-range effort. All their tries were improved by Tex Hoy.

In front of 14,234, Leeds won the penalty count six-two and had four set-restarts to Cas’ two. Both teams were successful with a captain’s challenge, through referee Griffiths had a decent game.

Leeds Rhinos: Connor, Lumb, Newman, Handley, Hall, Gannon, Sinfield, Oledzki, Ackers, Jenkins, Bentley, McDonnell, Palasia. Sub O’Connor, Lisone, Holroyd, Edgell.

Castleford Tigers: Rooney, Kershaw, Wood, Cini, I Senior, Asi, Hoy, Namo, Horne, Lawler, Simbiken, Mellor, Westerman. Subs Rimbu, Griffin, Hill, Mustapha.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths (Widnes). Attendance: 14,234.