CASTLEFORD coach Darryl Powell was delighted with the contribution of former Bradford Bulls academy youngster Jake Trueman in their 38-10 Magic Weekend victory over Leeds Rhinos.

The West Bowling product is helping to fill the void created by the loss of Luke Gale with a fractured knee cap as the new half-back pairing with Jamie Ellis begins to gel.

After a slow start to the season, Castleford looked more like the side that ran away with the League Leaders' Shield in 2017.

And Trueman caught the eye as Powell said: "Jake is getting more and more confidence with the way he's playing.

"He's a good player. He's got such a deft touch with his kicking game and you saw some signs of that today. And his pass just sits there on a shelf – if you're catching that pass it's almost perfect, it just says 'catch me'.

"He can get better from a talk perspective but he's young and he's going to get that as his confidence grows."

Leeds actually created the first chance, with stand-off Joel Moon breaking through the Tigers defence, but it came to nothing and a handling error deep inside his own half by winger Ryan Hall gave Castleford a perfect attacking position.

Winger Jy Hitchcox – back at Cas after a spell on loan with Bulls – made the most of the opportunity, capitalising on an overlap to touch down at the corner for the opening try, to which Ellis added the first of his seven goals.

The champions suffered major disruption when scrum half Richie Myler went off for a concussion assessment and it was during his absence that Castleford extended their lead.

Paul McShane and Trueman combined to get makeshift centre Alex Foster through a gap for a try against his old club.

Junior Moors forced his way through a two-man tackle to plant the ball down as Castleford built up an unassailable 22-0 interval lead.

There was no way back for Leeds when skipper Michael Shenton added another try within two minutes of the re-start.

Prop Mikolai Oledzki, who also had a loan spell with Bulls, powered over for his first Super League try for Leeds but Cas loose forward Adam Milner and second rower Oliver Holmes both went through some poor defence for tries for the rampant Tigers before second rower Brett Ferres added a consolation effort.

Leeds coach Brian McDermott said: "I thought both teams looked a bit erratic to start with and I was hoping we were going to get hold of the game first.

"I thought we were soft in the first half. It's very rare I say that about my players.

"I thought we took some soft options and conceded some soft tries.

"Cas got hold of the game and they looked very good. Their goal-line defence was great."

Already without five regulars through injury, Leeds lost captain Kallum Watkins and full back Jack Walker with knee injuries while prop Nathaniel Peteru sustained a second biceps injury of the season and hooker Matt Parcell sustained a shoulder injury.

The injury to England international Watkins appears to be the most serious.

"He felt a pop and heard a pop," McDermott said. "That normally means something has snapped.

"We've a bit of a busted group at the moment."