Castleford have atoned for their grand final defeat with a heart-stopping 25-24 victory in their rematch with the Super League champions.
Leeds produced a tremendous fightback after trailing 24-0 after 23 minutes but, despite outscoring their opponents by five tries to four, had left themselves with too much to do in coach Brian McDermott’s 200th Super League match.
An epic derby on Friday was witnessed by a bumper crowd of 23,246 at Elland Road, a Super League best for Leeds.
Castleford were without skipper Michael Shenton but Greg Minikin switched effortlessly to centre and, with hooker Paul McShane in inspirational form, they were at their old breath-taking best in the first half.
Stand-off Jamie Ellis got the ball rolling by latching onto Luke Gale’s kick through the Leeds defence for the first of their four first-half tries after only five minutes.
Leeds looked better for the introduction of teenage full-back Jack Walker after 24 minutes and, after pulling two tries back before halftime, were the better side for most of the second half.
Stand-off Joel Moon had a try disallowed for a forward pass early in the second half but Leeds suffered a blow when prop Brad Singleton was sin-binned for a high tackle on Junior Moors that sparked an outbreak of fighting.
The home side were still down a man when Handley took Myler’s pass and stepped through the Castleford defence for his second try on 54 minutes.
Kallum Watkins sliced through the Tigers defence on 69 minutes to set up a nerve-jangling finish but he was unable to add the goal and was also off target when Ryan Hall went over for his side’s fifth try three minutes from the end.
In other games in Friday, former NRL star Ben Barba made the difference for St Helens, scoring a try in both halves to help them bounce back from their first defeat of the season by beating Hull KR 30-6.
Wigan Warriors made it three wins on the bounce as they ran in nine tries to hammer the Huddersfield Giants 48-10.
Winger Tom Lineham claimed a hat-trick of tries to help Warrington to a 34-24 victory over Wakefield.
Hull got back to winning ways by overcoming bottom-placed Catalans Dragons for an emphatic 42-16 win.
