Castleford Progress at UTC,s
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Castleford Tigers moved into the Fifth Round of the Powergen Challenge Cup with a 32-20 defeat of French club UTC on Saturday. At The Jungle, Castleford gained their first win of 2004 with a solid, yet unspectacular, display against the French League leaders.

UTC, who are looking to apply for a Super League franchise in 2006, performed creditably and their enthusiastic display saw them cross for four tries.

They did initially struggle with the pace of the game, and a bright start saw the Tigers take a 10-0 lead inside eight minutes.

Hooker Wayne Godwin dived in from dummy half on three minutes to open the scoring, converting himself, and then Sean Rudder linked well to put Sean Ryan through, and Damian Gibson supported to dive in at the corner.

Lee Harland and Godwin had been stopped just short before the Tigers scored their third try, on 14 minutes, with Ryan Sheridan switching play to neatly send Rudder through a gap.

Godwin again goaled, but the French outfit began to settle and got themselves on the scoreboard on 24 minutes.

Former London three-quarter Steve Hall was held up over the line before the ball was moved left and loose forward Aurelien Cologni sliced through to touch down, Laurent Frayssinous converting.

UTC added a second try within two minutes, Castleford being penalised for offside from the kick off before Julien Rinaldi grubbered through for Hall to race in and touch down.

Frayssinous could not goal this time, but his cover tackle prevented Ryan Hudson from extending the lead soon afterwards.

Castleford did grab a fourth try, with Jamie Thackray crashing onto Jonny Hepworth's pass to touch down, Hepworth converting, but UTC pulled back to 22-12 before the break with a Frayssinous penalty after Ryan was placed on report.

The Tigers had chances at the start of the second half, with both Hudson and Godwin being held up over the UTC line and Michael Smith going short.

But the Frenchmen grabbed the first try of the period, when Djamel Fakir burst through from 35 metres and powered through both Tom Saxton and Waine Pryce to score.

At 22-16, things could have become nervous for Castleford, but they hit back on 54 minutes, when Sheridan's long pass allowed, Darren Rogers and Gibson to put Pryce in at the left corner.

And they finally put daylight back between the sides on 69 minutes when Thackray's angled run saw him romp over for his second try of the afternoon, Godwin opening up a 32-16 lead with the goal.

UTC cut the gap again when Tongan centre Phil Howlett intercepted Rudder's pass and raced 80 metres to score, but the Tigers held on to secure their place in the last 16.

"It was all about getting into Round Five, and that's what we've achieved," said Tigers coach Graham Steadman. "We have won, although admittedly it wasn't pretty to watch or one of our best perfornances.

"They went 16-0 up and fell into a false sense of security, and the players then started to go away from what we've worked on throughout the week.

"There were some good individual performances, but we know we've got to work hard ahead of next week's game with Leeds. We're on the right track."

UTC coach Steve Deakin said: "I'm not sure if it was a bad start or a slow start. I feared the thing that could hurt us was to handle the level of the game in the first 15-20 minutes, and that caught us cold.

"Both teams played in the right spirit and it was a good advert for the game in France too.

"I'd like to think we're going in the right direction. The players have performed creditably for themselves and I am very proud - the boys dug deep."

In Saturday's other game, Batley Bulldogs saw off the challenge of amateur outfit Dudley Hill with a 76-14 win.

Adrian Flynn and Shad Royston bagged hat-tricks, while Chris Spurr crossed twice for the Bulldogs.

Ryan Horsley, Will Cartledge, Danny Maun, Mark Sibson, Joe Berry and Mark Cass added further tries, with Barry Eaton kicking ten goals.

Richard Bingley, Chris Robinson and Craig Tyman replied for Dudley-Hill, with Robinson adding one goal.

The East Hull v Whitehaven and Rochdale v Warrington were postponed due to frozen pitches, with the latter having already been re-arranged for Tuesday evening, 7.45pm, at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Teams: Castleford: Saxton; Gibson (t), Clayton, Rogers, Pryce (t); Rudder (t), Sheridan; Greenhill, Godwin (t, 3g), Sykes, Harland, Ryan, Hudson. Subs: Hepworth (g), Jackson, Smith, Thackray (2t). UTC: Horne; Hill, Howlett (t), Hall (t), Verges; Frayssinous (2g), Rinaldi; Bawden, Berthezene, Fellous, Jampy, Fakir (t), Cologni (t). Subs: Martins, Teixido, Mounis, Bosc. Referee: Ashley Klein. Attendance: 3435.