Leigh crush Tigers to go third in Super League

Betfred Super League

Leigh (24) 46

Trys: O’Brien 7; Charnley, Lam, Brand 2, Charnley, Tuitavake 2, Dwyer

Castleford (0) 6

Leigh Leopards defeated Castleford Tigers for the fifth time in a row as they moved up to third place in the Super League.

With a 24-0 lead in the 26th minute, the hosts were out of sight thanks to scores from Frankie Halton, Lachlan Lam, Keanan Brand, and Josh Charnley.

After their 19th league defeat of the year, Castleford are currently under interim coach Chris Chester’s leadership before Ryan Carr takes over on a permanent basis for 2026.

Leigh opened the scoring in the fourth minute when the restored Halton collected Lam’s pass after Brand had only a 38-6 advantage over bottom side Salford.

Leigh looked sharper than opponents beaten 38-4 at Catalans Dragons on Saturday, and that set the tone for a dominant display. Lam scored again thanks to Isaac Liu’s effective work, who dummied a pass to Brand and beat Louis Senior cross the line.

After Lam’s skillful 40/20 kick, Charnley scored from the left to add to his 1,500 career total, which included 444 points for the Leopards and 862 for the Wigan Warriors between 2010 and 2016.

O’Brien once more improved the scoreline by a considerable distance, refuting head coach Adrian Lam’s prediction that his returning players were much better for a break.

In addition to dictating play, Castleford were hampered by losing prop forward Tom Amone to a twisted ankle early on, while hooker Edwin Ipape, who has been one of those players who has been training, joined Liu.

Leigh made noticeably more unforced errors in the second half, including two by Jack Hughes shortly after the break.

Between the fourth and fifth tries, Halton almost cut off the gap, but seconds later Lam burst through at close range to put Leigh on course for their biggest-ever victory in this competition, surpassing their 30-6 home victory in 2023.

The Tigers conceded again five minutes later after a review found Castleford’s claims that scorer Brad Dwyer had been offside when the move first appeared to deflate them.

Cain Robb was unable to stop Tuitavake from 10 yards for his second two minutes later, but Castleford quickly rallied with Tex Moy after Liam Horne’s driving run resulted in Castleford scoring a consolation.

Hanley responded politely, moving through before Lam made a second, clever pass for Brand’s subsequent try to the right.

Leigh’s fourth straight victory in this contest strengthens their quest for a top-four finish and play-off home advantage, though Lam may be concerned about the injury-prone Owen Trout’s absence.

Leigh: Hodgson, Brand, Niu, Hanley, Charnley, O’Brien, Lam, Pene, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Badrock, Liu

, and Brand.

Changes: Dwyer, Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis, and Tuittawake

Hoy, Lindsey, Mellor, Senior, Wallis, Asi, Atkin, Singleton, Horne, Amone, Simbiken, Stimson, Lawler, and Castleford

Westerman, Robb, Hall, Mustapha, and others.