Castleford Tigers defeated Wigan Warriors on the road for the first time since 2017 but head coach Ryan Carr has already laid down a fresh challenge for his players.
After a long period of reflection following their derby day defeat to Wakefield Trinity a fortnight ago, Castleford Tigers put in an excellent performance to beat Wigan Warriors 24-14 with Ryan Carr’s side scoring three swift second-half tries to secure the win.
It marked the first Super League win over Wigan Warriors since 2020 and the first on the road since 2017 and Carr was under no illusions of how special the victory was.
“It was a great win,” he said post-match on Sky Sports, adding: “I’m just really happy to see my players happy and enjoy their performance and being proud of what they did out there on the field.
“I know how hard they work every day. We haven’t changed how hard we work every day.It’s just, for some reason, on game day, we have lapses, but today was a real indication of what we can do and how we can play.
“Seeing our fans there too, the travelling fans that come, that was awesome support here today for us.”
Jazz Tevaga’s sin-bin, Hull KR’s underrated star and very early Man of Steel candidates – Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show.
Castleford Tigers tasked with backing famous win up
Man of the Match Krystian Mapapalangi had spoken to Sky Sports just minutes before Carr did and he revealed that key conversations among the playing group and staff were key in securing the win.
When asked about those chats, Carr said: “It’s just the accountability. I mean, there hasn’t been a game that we’ve come off and no-one’s pointed fingers, no-one’s said, it’s this or it’s that. It’s more individually looking at themselves and the boys looking at themselves.
“If we can compete as hard as we can, like we did today for the full 80 minutes, it just goes to show, the result goes your way. That was a brave performance.
“I mean, we had 30, 35% of the ball in that first half. Our backs were against the wall and we just kept turning up for each other. They’re a great team, Wigan, let alone here at home, so it’s a huge win for us and one that we’ll hopefully back up now at home. That’s going to be key for us.”
Whilst Mapapalangi will steal headlines for his two-try performance, Carr paid plenty of credit to the forward pack, especially hooker Liam Hood who was back after a few weeks on the sidelines.
“Our whole forward pack (dug in). I mean, Hoody (Liam Hood) has been out for about five or six weeks and he got through massive minutes for us. He was out on his feet. We’ve got a few players that have just come back today.
“The forward pack was outstanding. They’re a hard team to handle, Wigan, through the middle. That last five minutes sums up how proud I am of them, how we kept scrambling and we kept moving and just wanted to win. If we can continue to have that desire, we’ll be all right.”
It’s Castleford’s third win of the season but they’ve failed to back up either of their previous wins and that is now the challenge that Carr is setting for his players, stating: “It’s so important now that we put back-to-back performances together. We’ve had some good ones this year and then we’ve let ourselves down the following week so that’ll be our focus moving forward.
“Enjoy it today but when we wake up tomorrow, we’ll have Hull FC at home (in mind) and hopefully we’ll get our place packed out, which we know can be rocking.”
A first win at Wigan since 2017 for @CTRLFC! 🐯#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/7TnOpQRkjK
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) April 19, 2026
