
Daryl Powell hailed the performances of four new recruits after watching his Wakefield Trinity side see off Castleford Tigers on Friday night. Wakefield hosted Castleford in friendly that acted as Luke Gale’s testimonial and scored six tries on the night to record a 32-8 win over their local rivals.
Cam Scott, Josh Rourke and Seth Nikotemo were among the try scorers on their first appearances for the Trin at Belle Vue and Powell has singled the trio out as some Wakefield’s most impressive performers with just three weeks to go until the start of the new Super League season. Ex Hull KR man Matty Storton caught the eye with his showing against the Tigers, too, with the head coach particularly pleased with the forward.
“I thought Cam, particularly at the start, was a real standout,” Powell said in his post-match press conference. “He was pretty stiff defensively and he made numerous line breaks on the back of some of our ball movement.
“Olly Pratt was pretty strong in the other centre as well. Seth was pretty strong and Matty Storton, I thought both back-rowers were good. Storton has been a real standout in our pre-season.
“Josh Rourke did some really good things in the second half finding space, he put Pratt away, and we created opportunities all the way through which is great.”
Lachlan Walmsley, Ky Rodwell and Caleb Hamlin-Uele were the other try scorers on what as a comfortable night for Wakefield, underlining just how much a threat they could be on their return to Super League.
“It’s hard when you put a new team together, you don’t really know what to expect,” the Wakefield Trinity coach added on the game. “We’ve trained pretty well and we feel like we’ve put a pretty decent squad together.
“I thought the start to the game was class. We got some good field position, and we looked pretty clinical, to be honest, which was one of the things I spoke to the boys about before: be organised, be clinical. We nailed that.
FULL TIME: Wakefield Trinity 32-8 Castleford Tigers
An amazing game to celebrate Luke Gale’s career!! Even better to get the win!#UpTheTrin pic.twitter.com/VZTanXOs9x
— Wakefield Trinity (@WTrinityRL) January 24, 2025
“We conceded a couple of softish tries, they didn’t really have much pressure on our line so there are a couple of bits to work on there. Overall I thought we were good and I thought our younger players were also really good at the end.
“I know Cas have been talking their young kids for up a bit, so it was pleasing to see some growth there with the younger players. Overall, I’m really pleased.
“Obviously we’ve been out of Super League for a year, we’ve built a new team and I know Cas have got a fair few new signings in there but for us to be as clinical and execute as well as we did and be quite so stiff defensively, we had great line speed and our contact was good.
“It’s only pre-season and we’re not going to get too carried away but for us to come up with that performance when we’ve had a short pre-season was pleasing.”
