Castleford Tigers 16-4 Wakefield Trinity: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

In a crucial West Yorkshire derby at the bottom of the league, Wakefield Trinity were left winless by the Castleford Tigers who move four points clear of Trinity at the bottom of the league.

Highlights:

Broadbent breaks and McShane scores
Jack Broadbent moved into the halves last week and made an instant impact against Catalans Dragons and today he continued it with a lovely break. He found Alex Mellor in support who was tackled but a quick play the ball allowed Paul McShane to score.

Cas defence stands up
Castleford showed amazing defence to deny some of Wakefield’s best chances which came shortly after the try. Niall Evalds marshalled the defence really well.

Brilliant break away try
As Wakefield attacked, a Will Dagger pick was taken by Paul McShane who then raced away for 40 metres before finding Greg Eden in support who got on the outside of Lee Kershaw to race away and score.

Wakefield give themselves hope
Trinity needed to score the first points of the first half and they did after two repeat sets a simple but effective play as Mason Lino and Dagger linked created just enough space for Samisoni Langi to power over.

Westerman shown yellow
As Castleford hung on, Joe Westerman was shown a yellow card against his former club after he was wrong footed by Jay Pitts and judged to have tripped him.

12 men Tigers seal it
Despite being a man down, after an error from Dagger a lovely move down the left complete with a looping ball over the top for Greg Eden allowed the winger to cross for a vital second with Niall Evalds notching an assist.

Talking Points:

McShane makes the difference
A former Man of Steel and an England international, he is one of Super League’s top number nines and tonight he was perhaps the difference between the two teams especially as he notched a try and an assist.

Evalds back and crucial
A strong spine is always key and that is something Wakefield have struggled with having to constantly change their side through injuries. Tonight though Cas were helped by the return of Evalds and his little bit of class gave them enough tonight.

Lino looking good
Lino is the only player in the Wakefield spine to play every game in the same role. He is showing his quality in a struggling side but the more relegation looms for the West Yorkshire side the more a big move looms at the end of the season unless he can be the key to keeping them in the top tier.

Effort not the problem
You can’t say Wakefield lacked effort but they did lack cohesion with so many changes in their side. This effort needs to remain and hopefully for Trinity the attacking cohesion will soon come.

Wakefield worry
Despite this, it is hard to escape the fact that relegation is looming over them. They need to find that first win soon as they find themselves now four points adrift of safety.

Player Ratings:

Castleford Tigers
1 Niall Evalds – 8
2 Greg Eden – 8
3 Jordan Turner – 7
4 Mahe Fonua – 7
5 Bureta Faraimo – 8
17 Jack Broadbent – 8
7 Jacob Miller – 7
14 Nathan Massey – 8
9 Paul McShane – 8
23 Suaia Matagi – 6
10 George Griffin – 6
12 Alex Mellor – 6
13 Joe Westerman – 7
Substitutes
8 George Lawler – 6
11 Kenny Edwards – 6
20 Muizz Mustapha – 6
38 Luis Johnson – 6

Wakefield Trinity
33 Will Dagger – 6
18 Lee Kershaw – 6
4 Reece Lyne – 6
21 Samisoni Langi – 7
34 Innes Senior – 7
20 Morgan Smithies – 7
7 Mason Lino – 8
35 Nathan Mason – 6
9 Liam Hood – 6
10 Jai Whitbread – 7
31 Sam Hewitt – 7
11 Matty Ashurst – 7
13 Jay Pitts – 7
Substitutes
14 Jordy Crowther – 6
15 Liam Kay – 7
19 Kevin Proctor – 6
17 Renouf Atoni – 6