Rogers claims double in Castleford rout

The Castleford full-back Darren Rogers scored two tries as the Tigers kept up their pursuit of a Super League play-off place with a resounding 40-16 victory at Halifax.

The Blue Sox have won just one of their previous 10 games and are in real danger of being sucked into the relegation dogfight at the foot of the table.

Wayne Bartrim's sixth-minute penalty set the ball rolling for Graham Steadman's side and they extended their advantage soon after when Danny Orr's dummy left Andy Hobson grabbing at fresh air and he put Michael Eager in at the corner. Then almost straight from the kick-off, Waine Pryce raced over to extend the Tigers' lead.

Halifax fell further behind when Rogers ran 95 metres to score at the other end. Two minutes later Rogers went over again, and Bartrim's goal made it five out of five for the hooker.

David Woods, Andrew Dunemann and Stuart Donlan went over for Halifax but they were never in the game and further Castleford tries from Hudson and Kyle Warren ensured the outcome.

In the Northern Ford Premiership, Huddersfield Giants clocked up a club-record 24th successive win to virtually secure the title.

Batley put up a brave show, but could not match the pace, power, skill and fitness of the rampant Giants who scored 11 tries in a 64-4 success.

Paul March led the try spree with a hat-trick, as the centre Ben Cooper and scrum-half Chris Thorman also grabbed a couple of tries each.

Eorl Crabtree, Darren Turner, Rob Roberts and Matthew Whitaker also crossed. Steve McNamara landed seven goals, while other successful kicks came from Thorman (two) and Paul Reilly. Chris North scored Batley's consolation.