Castleford Tigers 28 Barrow Raiders 34: Rooney returns to Jungle to send Castleford crashing out

The Tigers were looking to avoid a fourth successive defeat but were well beaten by the reigning champions of the Co-operative Championship, with Rooney proving the catalyst at his old haunt.

After seemingly putting the game out of reach in the second half, Castleford buckled allowing the Raiders to come back from the brink and complete a shock result thanks to tries from Rooney and another former Tiger, Ned Catic, late on.

Castleford's squad were missing loan players and decimated by injuries heading into the clash, but Terry Matterson's side were boosted by the return of Joe Westerman and Rangi Chase. The duo missed the Tigers' eighth defeat of the season at the hands of Huddersfield Giants last weekend following allegations of late-night drinking. Barrow lined up with four former Castleford players and their chances of an upset were dramatically enhanced by Huddersfield's decision to allow on-loan Jermaine McGillvary to play.

Barrow edged the opening exchanges and deservedly took the lead through Rooney, with the former Tiger capitalising on a defensive lapse to go over before scoring the resulting conversion in the ninth minute.

Jordan Thompson was the man caught napping in the Castleford defence, but he made amends by breaching the Raiders' back line with a mix of power and pace, Westerman converted.

It was not long until Barrow were back ahead, with McGillvary stepping inside on the left flank and ghosting past the flatfooted Castleford defence, with Rooney converting.

Castleford turned things around as the first period came to a close, with Westerman bouncing over out wide and converting, before Chase's dummy pass allowed Mitchell Sargent to charge over the line and give the Tigers the lead.

Two minutes after the restart, Castleford extended their lead through another Westerman try and conversion, before the tie was seemingly put to bed by Kirk Dixon. Westerman missed the conversion.

However, the Raiders showed tremendous spirit to retake the lead. First McGillvary snuck in again to reduce the deficit, before Steve Snitch's botched pass was intercepted by Andy Ballard, who ran the length of the field before going to ground under the posts.

Rooney's conversion gave Barrow hope before scoring and converting for the fifth time this afternoon.

The two-point margin looked shaky but the Raiders kept the ball to hold out for a famous victory, secured by Catic in the dying moments.

Castleford: Thompson, Dixon, Clayton, Evans, Wainwright, McGoldrick, Chase, Jackson, Netherton, Huby, Jones, Snitch, Westerman. Substitutes: Sargent, Hudson, Holmes, Arundel.

Barrow: Broadbent, Ballard, Blackwood, Harrison, McGilvary, Coyle, Rooney, James, Henderson, Bracek, Knowles, Catic, Luisi. Substitutes: Noone, R. Roberts, Campbell, Ostler.

Referee: T Alibert (France).