Substitutes used: Paul Vagana Langley Morley

Substitutes used: Paul, Vagana, Langley, Morley.Hull: Saxton; Blacklock, Whiting, Yeaman, Raynor; Faumuina, Horn; Dowes, Swain, Carvell, McMenemy, Kearney, Cooke. Substitutes used: King, Tony, Thackray, Chester.Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).l Pat Richards, the wing who will play for Wigan next year, scored one of the great tries as the Wests Tigers beat the North Queensland Cowboys 30-16 in Sydney to win Australia's National Rugby League Premiership yesterday. Richards latched on to a break by his stand-off Benji Marshall to score a length-of-the-field try.. Equally impressive was the way they defended as Hull tried to get some points on the board."We spoke about keeping up our standards to the end,'' Noble said. "The way we practised through the week, I knew we were very determined.''Bradford will take that determination into their final eliminator against St Helens on Friday. The Hull coach John Kear is convinced that they will now go on to win the competition.Kear criticised the referee Steve Ganson's decision to send off Kearney in the last match of his career.

Lesley Vainikolo scored four tries, but Henderson's two, plus his aggression at dummy-half, put Bradford on their way. "He's very strong, quick and determined and he has added a lot to our side since he arrived,'' said his coach, Brian Noble.Henderson is under contract for another two seasons, but could face competition from Great Britain's Terry Newton if Bradford sign him. The Wigan No 9 will be suspended for the first 10 weeks of next season.On Saturday, Henderson was part of a pack that dominated the Challenge Cup winners. In his last match at Odsal before joining Leeds, the Bradford captain Jamie Peacock was outstanding, while Hull must wonder what they have done to upset Vainikolo.The Kiwi wing has scored 16 tries in his last five games, 10 in two against Hull He set up two others as Bradford ran riot. Bradford could have an embarrassment of riches in their "problem" position of hooker next season, after Ian Henderson led them to a huge victory over Hull in their Super League elimination semi-final. We have failed at the last hurdle but we've got a lot of good memories to look back on.''Castleford: Platt; Pryce, Eagar, Hepworth, Blanch; Davis, Henderson; A Watene, A Smith, Fletcher, Haughey, Crouch, Bird. Substitutes used: Handforth, B Smith, Vowles, F Watene.Halifax: Gibson; Haley, Kirk, Blackwood, Sheriffe; Lawford, Black; Hobson, Fisher, Boults, Larder, Ball, Weisner.

Henderson, an Australian born in Torquay, was the pivotal figure after Hull's Stephen Kearney was sent off after seven minutes for a high tackle on Stuart Fielden. The home crowd and players were wilting, but Cas held on."We waited too long for our cameo,'' said Halifax's coach Anthony Farrell "I'm proud of what the boys have achieved this year. Substitutes used: Bloem, Spink, McDonald, Birchall.Referee: K Kirkpatrick (Warrington).. Weisner added the goal and five minutes later threw the long pass that allowed Kirk to slide in.This time Jamie Bloem hit the post with his conversion.

The defence managed to stop him but was then slow to react when Michael Platt found a gap on the next tackle. Steve Crouch converted.Halifax should have narrowed the gap before half-time when their former Castleford full-back, Damian Gibson, made a clean break but threw the ball into touch.David Larder had a try disallowed at the start of the second half and Halifax seemed to have had their chance when Cas moved the ball crisply to the right for Damien Blanch to score in the corner.Handforth made it into a 13-point lead, which looked enough until Lawford released Gibson, who kicked ahead for Sheriffe to touch down. "In the last few minutes I was just hoping and praying we could hang on and we did."This was not a performance to fill Castleford's fans with confidence for the final. They took the lead with two penalties from Richard Fletcher, although Sheriffe and Dean Lawford went close for Halifax.The visitors got on to the scoreboard through Pat Weisner's kick but Cas claimed the game's first try when Brad Davis darted for the line.