‘This one’s for Rob’: Leeds Rhinos beat Castleford Tigers in jersey’s designed by Rob Burrow’s daughters

It was a crucial game for Leeds’ hopes of a top-six finish, something which is looking increasingly likely following an impressive 34-20 victory.

But the greatest motivation came not via the table, but from someone close to the hearts of everyone associated with the Headingley club, their eight-time Grand Final winning former scrum-half Rob Burrow.

His stoicism since being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019 has had an impact on the entire sport and indeed Castleford, his hometown club, wore a one-off Magic Weekend jersey inspired by Burrow and which will raise money to fight the terminal condition.

Burrow was an integral part of the success Leeds enjoyed in the first two decades of this century and remains a hugely popular and influential figure at the club.

Rhinos’ Magic Weekend kit was designed by his daughters, Macy and Maya and they led the team out at Newcastle’s St James’ Park, alongside stand-in captain Ash Handley.

On what was one of the most thrilling and dramatic days in Magic’s 15-year history, the biggest cheer came when Burrow and his family appeared on the stadium’s big screen, during Leeds’ win over Tigers.

Coach Rohan Smith revealed the family had visited the team hotel before the match and admitted doing Burrow proud was a significant incentive, for both players and staff.

“I think it meant a lot to the whole club and we spoke about it a couple of times during the week, without getting too emotional,” said Smith of the Burrow family’s involvement.

“Sometimes you can build it up too much, but we had the pleasure of the family coming to speak to the players before the game.

“His beautiful little girls talking about the making of the jersey and the design was very special for all of us.

“I’d like to hope we’ve done the family proud.”

It’s unlikely Burrow had any complaints, particularly with Leeds’ second-half performance.

They led 6-0 early on, but found themselves 10-6 behind at half-time. Fittingly, their latest No 7, Aidan Sezer, had a major bearing on a second-half purple patch which saw them run in five unanswered tries between the 45th and 69th minutes.

He was involved in the build up to Handley’s 100th Leeds touchdown, which began the second half dominance, then ran an outstanding line on to Brad Dwyer’s pass to score himself.

After Richie Myler crossed from Liam Sutcliffe’s kick, Castleford lad Cameron Smith sent James Bentley over and Sezer’s pass put Liam Sutcliffe in.

Bureta Faraimo’s touchdown on 71 minutes began a late rally by Tigers and Mahe Fonua added another try in the final moments, after Sezer had been sin-binned for a high tackle on Danny Richardson, who kicked his second conversion.

Earlier, Matt Prior opened the scoring for Leeds and Rhyse Martin landed the first of five conversions, but Jake Mamo crossed from a kick by Faraimo, who gave Castleford a short-lived lead when he barged over from acting-half.

Overall, Smith was “happy-ish” with his side’s performance and felt they benefited in the second half from playing “hard and tough” during the first.

He said: “I liked how we started the second half, really direct.

“We opened up some opportunities on the back of it, it was a pleasing team performance.

“There’s still plenty to work on in some game management situations, but when we play together and we are patient, we are hard to defend against.”

Both teams were without their hooker/captain and first-choice stand-off. Adam Milner started at acting-half for Tigers, in place of Paul McShane and winger Greg Eden was moved into the number six role, following Jake Trueman’s season-ending injury. How much that took out of him was illustrated late on when he intercepted a pass, but was run down by an incredible chase from Handley.

For Leeds, Corey Johnson, a specialist hooker, made his first appearance since March at stand-off and Jarrod O’Connor was in the middle of the front-row.

Smith was pleased with how his youngsters coped “against a quality team who were in good form”.

He said: “The guys who stepped in there are 20/21.

“Jarrod’s a learning dummy-half, he tackled fantastic and he gave us some good service and did 50 minutes as a rookie.

“Corey was slightly out of position, he has been practising there a little bit, but he is a nine by trade as well so he did a great job filling in for those more experienced guys.”

With Kruise Leeming (foot) and Blake Austin (calf) on the casualty list, Zak Hardaker’s dead leg, which forced him off in the second half, was a concern for Leeds. They face an anxious wait to hear if Sezer will face further action following his yellow card.

Tigers still have work to do to cement their top-six place, but can take heart from the strong way they finished the game after being on the back foot for so long.

Leeds: Myler, Fusitu’a, Hardaker, Sutcliffe, Handley, Johnson, Sezer, Oledzki, O’Connor, Prior, Bentley, R Martin, C Smith. Substitues: Dwyer, Gannon, Walters, Donaldson.

Castleford Tigers: Evalds, Faraimo, Mamo, Fonua, Olpherts, Eden, Richardson, Griffin, Milner, Lawler, Edwards, Mellor, Westerman. Subs D Smith, Matagi, Watts, B Martin.

Referee: Ben Thaler (Wakefield).