Castleford Tigers got back to winning ways by pulling off an incredible comeback on Friday night, defeating Wigan Warriors 38-28 at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle. Here’s our verdict.
MATCH DETAILS
In the early stages, tensions were high with the two sets of rivals going toe-to-toe for the first time this season.
However, it was the visitors who found their way onto the board first. Joe Greenwood came up with the try, crashing over from short range.
Then shortly after, Wigan’s lead was doubled as Oliver Gildart glided past the Tigers’ right edge on his way to the try line.
The Warriors had their tails firmly up in the middle part of the first half, and they could have hardly hoped for more joy down their left flank.
With the Tigers unable to stem the flow, Wigan raced into a 20-0 lead, following further tries from George Williams and Joe Burgess.
It was a car crash of a start for the Tigers, but the first signs of a recovery came in the 27th minute as, in a rare venture into Wigan’s 20, Oliver Holmes did tremendously well to carry a host of defenders over the line and plant the ball down. Calum Turner failed to add the extras.
The final ten minutes of the first period were fairly even, though it was Wigan who struck next. Gildart was the scorer after chancing his arm from dummy half. The grounding looked suspect when the decision was sent upstairs but the try was given by the video referee.
On the stroke of half-time though, Castleford kept themselves just about in the contest. Smart stuff from Peter Mata’utia saw the Tigers’ number one go through a gap before laying on a beautifully delayed pass to an on-running Calum Turner.
The youngster touched down, which gave them the momentum for what was to come.
In the second half, Castleford’s defence firmed up, laying the platform for some early Tigers offence. It worked too, as after five minutes of the second half, Mitch Clark barged over for his first try of the campaign.
Within moments, the Tigers were in again. This time, it was a storming run up the gut from Matt Cook that did the business, bringing Castleford to within four points off the visitors.
Incredibly, after being as many as 20 points down during the early stages of the contest, the Tigers took the lead on the 50-minute mark.
The trend of strong running up the middle continued, as Adam Milner picked up the ball and simply willed his way over the whitewash.
The impact of Clark and Cook was massive for the Tigers and each deserved their warm ovation as they were given a breather with 20 minutes left on the clock. The latter, in particular, put himself about like a man possessed.
The Warriors weren’t out of the equation though, not at all. With a quarter of an hour left on the clock, Burgess grabbed his second, pushing Wigan back out to a two-point lead.
The deficit was almost increased a few moments later too, as Chris Kendall went upstairs to check a potential Wigan try. However, Dan Sarginson was adjudged to have knocked on in the build-up.
Wigan threw everything at the Tigers at the end, but there was nothing for the visitors. A last-ditch play only provided Castleford with the dagger, as Mata’utia swooped on the ball and scored to secure a memorable Tigers victory.
FOUR POINTERS
Comeback Kings
In fantastic fashion, Castleford did it again as they overturned a poor first-half display and took the fight to the Champions in the second half.
The game had everything: glitz, glamour and drama. A fantastic advert for the sport!
From Hero to Zero
When the two sides met in the Grand Final just two years ago, Castleford’s former full-back Zak Hardaker let his own teammates down after failing a drugs test prior to the Final and receiving a subsequent ban.
Since then, Hardaker was suspended for 2018 and has then joined Wigan ranks. He returned to the Jungle only to receive a reception we all anticipated.
Interesting coaching
With both sides down on numbers, some changes have to be made. So with Paul McShane out due to suspension, his teammate Peter Mata’utia stepped in and took over kicking duty, he even stepped in at half-back.
An intriguing decision made by head coach Daryl Powell who had put his faith in his full-back to help gain them two points on the conversions, sharing the kicking duties with Calum Turner.
The Pain Continues
Since winning the Grand Final and losing Shaun Wane in the process, we anticipated Wigan’s season to be a bit of struggle.
Now after tonight, the Warriors have only three wins to their name and six defeats, meaning that every result onwards will be important if they are to stay in contention for the play-offs.
THE RESULT
Castleford Tigers 38
Tries: Holmes, Turner, Clark, Cook, Milner, Egodo, Mata’utia
Goals: Mata’utia 5
Drop Goals: n/a
Wigan Warriors 28
Tries: Greenwood, Gildart 2, Williams, Burgess 2
Goals: Hardaker 2
Drop Goals: n/a
SQUADS
Castleford: Turner, Clare, Egodo, Shenton, Eden, Mata’utia, Trueman, Watts, Milner, Millington, Holmes, Sene-Lefao, Massey
Interchanges: Cook, Clark, Maher, O’Neill
Wigan: Hardaker, Manfredi, Sarginson, Gildart, Burgess, Williams, Sammut, Bullock, Leuluai, Navarrete, Isa, Greenwood, Partington.
Interchanges: Byrne, Tautai, Smithies, Shorrocks.
