Castleford 42-24 Wakefield: Tigers too strong

Match stats

Castleford tries: Roberts (9), Webster (11,37), Holmes (19), Millington (28,34), Eden (62)
Conversions: Gale (9,11,19,28,34,37,62)

Wakefield tries: Fifita (3,54), Tupou (32), Jones-Bishop (76)
Conversions: Williams (3,32,54), Finn (76)

Match report

Andy Lynch celebrated moving up to second on the list of all-time Super League appearances by helping Castleford claim a dominant 42-24 victory over Wakefield.

Lynch moved clear of former St Helens stalwart Paul Wellens by playing his 440th game - just 14 behind former Leeds skipper Kevin Sinfield - but it was his team-mates who largely stole the limelight as the Super League leaders ran in seven tries at a sold-out Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

Luke Gale was the engineer behind several of Castleford's touchdowns, and also kicked impeccably for his seven goals, whilst fellow half-back Ben Roberts proved equally creative.

The Tigers have now won eight of their first nine games this season while their latest success put a check on Trinity's own impressive recent run - the visitors having won five of their previous six matches.

With five of the leading seven try scorers on show it was always likely to be an entertaining affair, and few were disappointed as the home side ran in six of eight first-half tries to take control.

What proved to be a heated encounter between the near neighbours was further fuelled when Wakefield's Bill Tupou was laid out and helped off after slipping into an early high tackle from Roberts.

Barely two minutes later a towering Sam Williams kick was allowed to bounce and powerful prop David Fifita backed himself to cross to put the visitors ahead.

Williams slotted the first of his three conversions, but the lead lasted only five minutes as a text-book training ground runaround move with Mike McMeeken resulted in Roberts arcing across the whitewash.

Scott Grix launched the restart out on the full and, from the resultant penalty and attacking set, Roberts put Jake Webster through a hole to put Castleford in front.

Super League's leading points scorer Gale converted both and the Tigers were on their way.

Roberts picked up a loose ball after Tom Johnstone had fumbled a poor pass but Tupou, for the second time since returning to the field after his head knock, made a try-saving tackle on halfway.

Yet almost immediately Gale was again involved in creating the home side's third try - kicking a 40-20 then putting Oliver Holmes over on the next play.

Grant Millington, back in the Tigers squad in place of injured captain Michael Shenton, added another try after strong work and a well-timed off-load by Junior Moors, but Tupou rose, claimed and grounded a high kick from Jacob Miller, making his 100th career appearance, to give Trinity some hope.

It was short-lived as Gale was again the creator, both when Millington crashed over for his second score and Webster did likewise just afterwards to give Castleford a 36-12 half-time advantage.

Joel Monaghan was denied by a long, looping Roberts pass which was adjudged forward, before Fifita grabbed his second try as Trinity steadied a rocking visitors' ship.

However, Greg Eden's 12th try of the season ensured more points for the league leaders, although Ben Jones Bishop's seventh score of the campaign and Liam Finn's late conversion offered Wakefield further consolation.

Match reaction

Wakefield coach Chris Chester: "I'm frustrated and disappointed.

"They were too good for us the first 40 minutes and killed us with their ruck speed and off-loads.

"We were better in the second half but game had gone by then.

"Their forward pack rolled us far too easily but take nothing away from Cas - sometimes they are a pleasure to watch but not for us today.

"They are a great side and very hard to stop although we didn't react well to the errors that we made.

"A team like Castleford will really hurt you and they did today.

"Their completion rate was very high and they have two good kickers in (Luke) Gale and (Ben) Roberts who can really punish you

"Classy Cas they are nicknamed and they are a very hard team to defend against and very difficult to break down - something which they have done a lot to improve over the last 12 months."

Tigers coach Daryl Powell: "At half-time we were well in front - we scored some fairly smart tries and defended with intent - but in the second half it became scrappy and we made too many errors.

"We got ourselves a strong half-time lead and the only disappointment was that we didn't go on and make more of it."