Leeds Rhinos clinch Challenge Cup semi-final against Castleford Tigers by 10-8
The Leeds Rhinos snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a dramatic 10-8 win against the Castleford Tigers in the semi-final of the Carnegie Challenge Cup 2011, on Sunday, August 7, at the Keepmoat Stadium.
The victory killed the hopes of the Tigers to walk into the final of the Challenge Cup after almost two decades. Just ahead of this big game, there were a lot of unanswered questions, regarding Tigers’ key player, Rangi Chase. His participation was not confirmed
by the head coach, Terry Matterson, despite already naming him to the 19-man Castleford’s outfit. The mystery about his playing the Sunday night’s game was not resolved until an hour prior to the clash.
Last week, it was all about Chase being able to make it or not for the semi-final, as he had flown to Australia for legal proceedings based on Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) charges, which stemmed from an incident which took place in 2008, before he joined the
Tigers.
The only contribution made to the scoreboard by the Rhinos, came in form of a penalty goal by Kevin Sinfield during the 24th minute of the first half of the game.
However, Chase made it in time to be part of the decisive match of the Challenge Cup, to the excitement of Tigers’ fans and played a pivotal role for the Tigers by scoring an inaugural try of the clash which was converted by Kirk Dixon to put Tigers 6-2
ahead of the Leeds during 52nd minute of the game and at 71st minute another goal was scored by Dixon to put the Tigers in lead with 8-2.
Until the last eight minutes of the regular full time, the Tigers were leading their pack with the score break up of 8-2, but the equation was soon altered in favour of Leeds. However, only a minute away, Kallum Watkins of Rhinos scored a try after collecting
the pass from Weller Hauraki, which was then converted by the Rhinos’ skipper Sinfield to level the scores.
Sinfield attempted to score a drop goal which was stopped by Danny Orr, who then created a perfect position for Chase, who had missed a perfect opportunity for Tigers to tread into Challenge Cup final.
With that being done, just two minutes into the extra-time, the tie-breaker, golden point was scored by Sinfield, when Danny McGuire of Rhinos was pushed down by Castleford’s Ryan McGoldrick. With this try, Sinfield swept his pack into the final of the Challenge
Cup, on August 27, at Wembley against Wigan Warriors, by making a huge contribution of three goals in this major fixture of the Challenge Cup 2011.
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