Castleford 53-10 St Helens: Challenge Cup report

Match stats: Castleford 53-10 St Helens

Castleford tries: Shenton (3), Webster (11, 32), McShane (34), Minikin (36, 68), Massey (40), Eden (43, 49, 63)
Conversions: Gale (11, 32, 40, 49, 63, 68)
Drop-Goals: Gale (39) 

St Helens tries: Morgan (19), Douglas (74)
Conversions: Percival (74) 

Match report

Castleford were at their brilliant best as they hammered St Helens 53-10 to book their place in the last eight of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.

Winger Greg Eden, Super League's leading tryscorer this season, led the spree with a 19-minute hat-trick early in the second half to put the gloss on another breath-taking display from classy Cas in a one-sided sixth-round tie.

St Helens are one of three teams to defeat the Super League leaders this year but that was on home soil and they were unfortunate to come up against a rampant side who have not failed to score under 40 points at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle so far.

The Tigers were simply ruthless against a Saints side for whom it seems the arrival of new coach Justin Holbrook, expected to arrive from Australia in time for Magic Weekend, cannot come soon enough.

Castleford left out one-time Man of Steel Rangi Chase after announcing an investigation into his alleged misbehaviour in the week but they had more than enough match-winners on display, especially with their trio of England internationals back in the side.

The danger signs were there early enough for the visitors as Castleford opened the scoring from their first meaningful attack, England scrum-half Luke Gale getting his captain Michael Shenton over out wide for the first of their 10 tries.

Young stand-off Tom Holmes, the man to benefit from the absence of Chase, then got centre Jake Webster over for the first of his two tries and Gale kicked the first of his six goals to make it 10-0 after 10 minutes.

Had prop Grant Millington been awarded another try, the contest could have been over inside the first quarter but it was disallowed for a ball steal and St Helens worked their way back into the game.

Centre Ryan Morgan gathered Matty Smith's crossfield kick to touch down midway through the first half and second rower Zeb Ta'ai thought he had added another four minutes later only to be denied by the video referee who ruled he grounded the ball short of the line.

It was to prove a crucial decision as, instead of being level at 10-10, Saints very quickly found themselves trailing 31-4 after nine minutes of trademark whirlwind rugby from the league leaders.

Stand-off Ben Roberts, who began the match on the bench after being out with a hamstring injury, made his mark with an accurate pass for Webster to score his second try that sparked a purple patch for the home side.

Hooker Paul McShane forced his way over from close range, thus sparing the blushes of Eden after he hung onto the ball with men in support, and Roberts showed his class by creating a try for winger Greg Minikin.

Gale kept the scoreboard ticking over with a drop goal before sending substitute forward Nathan Massey crashing over for a sixth try of the half on the stroke of the interval.

Half-time provided some respite for shell-shocked Saints but Castleford were quickly back in the groove and Eden went over for two tries in six minutes early in the second half to pile on the agony.

St Helens winger Adam Swift showed there was still spirit in the visitors' camp when he raced back to prevent Holmes finishing off a long-range break by Minikin but it was like putting a finger in the dyke.

Another breath-taking move down Saints' vulnerable right enabled Eden to complete his hat-trick while fellow winger Minikin scorched 70 metres for his second before prop Luke Douglas grabbed a consolation try for the visitors seven minutes from the end.

The only disappointment for Castleford was the sight of full-back Zak Hardaker hobbling off just before the end.

Match reaction

St Helens caretaker coach Jamahl Lolesi on the imminent arrival of new boss Justin Holbrook: "Justin can't come quick enough. He should be here this week, which will be great. We probably need someone to come in and try something different to get the group going.

"Unfortunately we're in a bit of a hole at the moment. We didn't compete hard for 60 minutes of last week's game and probably 80 minutes of today's game.

"It's a little bit worrying. We've got some issues we need to sort out. We've a group of young men who will need to stand up and start doing better for the club.

"On behalf of the coaching staff. I'd apologise to the fans who paid their money to watch that, it must have been hard for them. Obviously Cas are a really good side when you let them play on top of you which is what we did.

"They are like the Harlem Globetrotters. You have got to put them into a tough game and challenge them physically and we did it for a 10 or 15-minute period in the first half.

"But when we were asked to play it tough and knuckle down, we went into our shells and gave in in the end, which is disappointing. We just weren't good enough at any level, we didn't win any of the contests out there today."

Castleford coach Daryl Powell: "I thought we were very good. There was a period when we had to dig deep defensively but we did that and then blew them away. Some of our play was exceptional. I'm really pleased with the group and the way they're going about their business.

"We're consistently working hard on the defensive side of our game. We're looking in good shape in both sides of our game. We're difficult to defend against when we're confident with the ball."

On the sight of England international Zak Hardaker hobbling off four minutes from the end: "He didn't look too great but hopefully he's going to be alright. There was a bit of risk playing him today and we took him back off as a precaution."