Rugby

The Castleford Tigers edged a thrilling derby to boost their engage Super League play-off chances with a 34 points to 30 victory over the Bradford Bulls at The PROBIZ Coliseum, Castleford.

The Bulls led 24-18 at the break after an entertaining first half in which they claimed tries from Brett Kearney (2), Gareth Raynor and Shad Royston.

Castleford also crossed through Adam Milner, Joe Arundel and Rangi Chase before Bradford extended their lead shortly after the restart through Paul Sykes.

But Terry Matterson’s men dug deep to go over again through former Bulls prop Rob Parker, Arundel and prop Stuart Jones to deal a blow to Bradford’s campaign.

The visitors led inside the second minute when Kearney grounded a high kick from Marc Herbert and Patrick Ah Van added the extras.

The full-back grabbed his second three minutes later after more fine work from Herbert, whose pass put Kearney clear and Ah Van again converted.

The Tigers fashioned a typically spirited response and they claimed their first try in the 10th minute following a period of pressure which led to Milner powering over from close range.

Kirk Dixon added the extras but Bradford breached the home side’s defence again in the 18th minute when Raynor took a pass from Herbert to cross the line in the left corner.

Ah Van again converted but Castleford hit back again in the 24th minute when Arundel capitalised on some weak defending from Bradford to score a try which Dixon converted.

The hosts were level three minutes later when Chase showed outstanding pace to race onto a grubber kick and ground the ball for a try which Dixon converted to make it 18-18.

On the stroke of half-time, however, a sublime offload from Olivier Elima allowed Royston to go over from close range and Ah Van converted to put Bradford 24-18 ahead.

Less than a minute after the restart, Ben Jeffries and Kearney combined to put Sykes clear down the right channel and Ah Van kicked his fifth goal.

Five minutes later, Parker scored against his old club when he collected a pass from Danny Orr to crash over the line from close range and Dixon converted.

The hosts continued to probe and were rewarded again in the 54th minute when Arundel exposed more suspect defending down Bradford’s left-hand side to go over in the right corner.

Dixon missed the conversion from close to the touchline to leave the scores delicately poised at 30-28 in Bradford’s favour.

With 15 minutes remaining, Castleford claimed their sixth and decisive try as Jones powered over from close range and Dixon landed his fifth goal.