Australian Wendell Sailor treated the Headingley crowd to a brilliant 60-metre try as The Rhinos came from behind to win the New Year challenge match.

Castleford looked set for a surprise win when they led 21-4 early in the second half but the Brisbane Broncos winger brought the 10,000 crowd to its feet with the defining moment of an amazing game.

Wendell Sailor: Brought the home fans to life

Gathering a speculative kick from Castleford stand-off Francis Maloney in his own half, Sailor caught the visitors' defence unaware with a pacy run to the corner.

Sailor, who was playing in the second of two holiday fixtures as a guest for the Rhinos, had scored 11 tries in his nine pre-Christmas rugby union games for Leeds Tykes.

But having drawn a blank in the Rhinos' 12-6 Boxing Day win over Halifax, Sailor had a try ruled out in the 27th minute after being unable to ground the ball and he was in danger of his cameo role being remembered for a series of handling errors.

It was from his second knock-on that Ian Tonks scored the Tigers' second try to put his side 10-0 up and well on their way to an impressive success.

But Sailor's 56th-minute touchdown put a new complexion on the game as Leeds suddenly clicked into top gear, running in four tries in the last 15 minutes.

Captain Iestyn Harris failed with all six conversion attempts but kept his nerve when Leeds were awarded a penalty in the 77th minute to put his team in front for the first time.

Dean Sampson: Opened the scoring for Castleford

Castleford had beaten Leeds in two of their three meetings in 1998 and they made the best possible start to 1999 with a try from prop Dean Sampson within two minutes.

Harris had split the Tigers defence to get loose forward Kevin Sinfield over for a first-half try but Castleford, leading 10-4 at the break, looked to be in an invincible position when Gael Tallec and impressive new signing Darren Rogers crossed for further touchdowns within nine minutes of the re-start.