York RI's first visit to Castleford for many years turned out to be a hard fought battle between two sides in the relegation zone.

Playing down a slight slope in the first half, Castleford put RI under early pressure with strong runs by hooker Thackray and No 8 Willett, but RI's defence held firm and they gradually worked themselves back in to the Castleford half where Maddigan, Atkins and Ashman all went close to scoring.

RI eventually took the lead on the half hour when centre John Armstrong dummied his way through the Castleford defence to touch down under the posts. Matthew Yates converted to give RI a 7-0 half time lead.

Yates' intelligent kicking kept Castleford pinned in their own half for long periods of the second half and only stubborn defence kept RI out.

Castleford reduced the arrears with ten minutes to go when stand-off Rutter kicked a penalty when RI were caught offside.

That was the only score of the second half, as RI held on for a 7-3 victory.

Updated: 11:54 Monday, March 04, 2002