Castleford 45-20 Wakefield: Tigers land League Leaders' Shield
Castleford beat Wakefield 45-20 to win the League Leaders' Shield for the first time in their 91-year history. Here's the full report and reaction.
Match stats: Castleford 45-20 Wakefield
Castleford tries: Hardaker (9,76), McMeeken (19), Webster (31,55,63,70), Eden (52)
Goals: Gale (9,19,31,55,63,76)
Drop goals: Gale (65)
Wakefield tries: Jones-Bishop (14), Caton-Brown (39), Kirmond (48), Jowitt (72)
Goals: Finn (3,48)
Match report
Veteran centre Jake Webster produced a four-try five-star show to help Castleford claim their place in history.
The 33-year-old former New Zealand international scored half of his side's eight tries as the hugely-impressive Tigers duly lifted the League Leaders' Shield for the first time in the club's 91-year history.
An ultimately comfortable 45-20 victory over neighbours Wakefield in front of a raucous, near-capacity 11,235 crowd at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle enabled Castleford to get their hands on the elusive trophy with four games to spare.
It guarantees Daryl Powell's men a home semi-final, putting them just 80 minutes from a maiden Grand Final appearance at Old Trafford, and also earns them a place in the prestigious 2018 Dacia World Club Series.
Castleford are favourites to win the Grand Final and can be backed as a Sky Bet Price Boost at odds enhanced from evens to 11/8.
Hull FC (3/1), Leeds (7/2) and St Helens (6/1) follow in the betting.
The Tigers were at full strength for their biggest match of the year, with the return of skipper Michael Shenton, prolific winger Greg Eden, long-serving prop Andy Lynch and star second rower Junior Moors, but they looked strangely nervous at the start.
Greg Minikin and Webster came up with uncharacteristic handling errors inside the first two minutes and former Castleford scrum-half Liam Finn nudged Wakefield ahead with a penalty goal.
It was against the run of play when Castleford scored their first try, Zak Hardaker taking Ben Roberts' pass to glide over for his 10th of the season, and that calmed their nerves.
Luke Gale kicked the first of his six goals to make it 6-2 but Wakefield drew level on 15 minutes when Dean Hadley, deputising at hooker for the injured Kyle Wood, combined with Reece Lyne to get winger Ben Jones-Bishop over for his 19th try of the season.
A crucial one-on-one ball steal by hooker Paul McShane then created the position for England second rower Mike McMeeken to stretch out of a three-man tackle to plant the ball on the line. Referee James Child had his doubts but video official Phil Bentham awarded the score after studying slow-motion replays.
That roused the crowd and the old ground physically shook on 32 minutes when Hardaker demonstrated his silky skills to carve out an opening and Webster ran onto his pass superbly to score his first try.
Gale's third goal made it 18-6 and the home supporters began to party.
However, Trinity were in no mood to lie down and they struck back with tries either side of half-time to once more put the game in the balance.
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Powell will not have been impressed by his side's defence as centre Mason Caton-Brown went over three minutes before half-time while Gale was at fault as Wakefield captain Danny Kirmond skipped out of his tackle to go over seven minutes into the second half.
Finn's second goal cut the gap to just two points but the game was put beyond Trinity in a decisive four-minute spell in the third quarter.
Eden collected Gale's cut-out pass to grab his 35th try of the campaign and Webster went over for his second of the match after Wakefield winger Bill Tupou knocked down Hardaker's pass into his grateful arms.
As the game opened up in the final quarter, Webster completed his hat-trick on 62 minutes and proved unstoppable eight minutes later as he charged over from Roberts' pass for try number four.
Wakefield's young full-back Max Jowitt grabbed a consolation try for his side but Castleford deservedly had the final say when Hardaker romped over for his second try to put the finishing touches to a landmark victory.
Post-match reaction
Head coach Daryl Powell hailed Castleford's first-ever Super League Leaders' shield as "a good news story for rugby league.
"It's fantastic. For us, a group of people who have worked so hard from pre-season all the way through to be in this position. Four games (are) left for us and we got the job done," Powell told Sky Sports Arena.
"It's just an awesome feeling. It's a good news story for rugby league, I think the people there, the supporters, have been awesome all year and the boys have been superb.
"That's what team's are about. Everyone has played their part. The boys are doing their job and it's crucial that you recognise that everyone has been a part of it. My coaching staff are unbelievable people, outstanding at what they do."
Powell will now start planning a path to the Grand Final, and added: "Whoever we play (in the home semi-final for a place in the Grand Final) it will be a tough game, there are no given right because you are at home.
"It's going to be tough and Grand Finals are always tough. I was fortunate to play in one and it was unbelievably tough.
"We have some tough games ahead of us but you have got to enjoy things that happen in your life and this is a big one for us.
"It has never happened at the club before so this group of people (will) end up in the history books of Castleford Tigers and that's special."
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Captain Michael Shenton dedicated their maiden league title to the Castleford fans and re-iterated the team's desire to follow up their historic derby win by reaching the Grand Final on Saturday October 7 at Old Trafford.
He said: "First goal done. Time to regroup now, get this out of the way and then totally focus on getting to Old Trafford.
"It's been an absolutely awesome week. (We) came here tonight with the sun shining, we came out in the pre-game warm-up about 40 minutes before kick off and it was already packed, you just know it will be a special night.
"Wakey turned up. They gave us a real good game and it was a bit nervous here and there, and you could see it but we knew we were good enough tonight and an awesome finish to game. Now it's time to celebrate.
"It has just dropped down on perfect for us now. Thursday night. Perfect weather. The crowd (were) absolutely amazing, even the Wakey fans turned up and made it a special night for us.
"This is for the fans who have stuck by us for ups and downs throughout the years to now - to play Wakey, particularly in this game, it is a special night and now we are in the history books so (I'm) very proud."
Veteran Tigers forward Andy Lynch, who is retiring at the end of the season, believes his side can go all the way.
"We are confident we can do that," he added. "It is a great way to top it off, winning the League Leaders' Shield at home in front of the fans.
"The fans have waited 91 years for this and you know the time has come now, so we have to celebrate tonight and then we have to crack on towards the back end of the year for the Grand Final.
"I thought we started pretty nervous tonight and credit to Wakefield, they came at us and threw everything at us early on but we stuck by it and we were quite scrappy throughout the game, scored a few late tries and came through."
A third defeat of the season at the hands of their nearest rivals was a blow to Wakefield's semi-final hopes but coach Chris Chester was proud of his players' efforts.
"There was a lot to be positive about," Chester said. "Despite the lack of field position in that first half, we were still in the game.
"And we gave it a real crack in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half.
"Credit to Cas they have been fantastic all season. They caused us a lot of problems on our left edge which we need to fix it.
"But I thought we did a lot of good things and I said to the guys I am extremely proud of the effort they put in."