Ryan Carr’s Castleford Tigers put in a season-best performance as they beat a lacklustre St Helens side at Wheldon Road.
Castleford ran out as 30-10 winners against Saints with the win marking the first time this season that the Tigers have been able to record consecutive wins, but the bigger story was just how off the pace St Helens were.
After losing the second-half to Huddersfield 18-2 last week, Saints put in a disappointing 80-minute performance with yet more questions to be asked about the squad selection, particularly in the spine.
It was Jack Welsby in the halves and Tristan Sailor at full-back but the big calls for Saints was no Kyle Feldt, Harry Robertson or Jake Davies, whereas Castleford recalled winger Semi Valemei after injury.
Valemei’s wing partner Jason Qareqare was the man to open the scoring and the Fijian international went on to score a hat-trick with Brock Greacen and Ashton Golding the Tigers’ other scorers.
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Castleford Tigers and St Helens talking points
Castleford great or St Helens awful?
A major criticism of Castleford this season has been their inability to string two good performances together and they’ve certainly now snapped that, however, they did not have much coming back against them as St Helens were beyond poor.
For a team who started round 12 atop Super League, they looked so far off the mark in terms of the physical battle, the mental battle and the effort battle. They compounded errors with errors, did next to nothing with the little good ball territory that they earned, and they didn’t put in a performance that reflects a Paul Rowley side.
As for Castleford, they were excellent. They deserve the plaudits and Ryan Carr deserved plenty of credit for the performance. So too does Martin Jepson as recent signings Tyler Dupree and Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e were both outstanding.
New Castleford hero
Jason Qareqare was the man to get the hat-trick and whilst he certainly deserves his props, the man who shone was full-back Laulu-Togaga’e on what is just his third appearance for the club.
Signed from Catalans, PLT came in with a shaky debut against his former club Hull KR but he was excellent last week against York Knights and even better today against St Helens. It was his cut-out pass that set up Qareqare for his first whilst he also assisted the third on the back of a scrum play.
However, it was his general running game that terrored St Helens all day and that’s where he was vital for the second of Qareqare’s try with the full-back breaking from his own half to help set up the good ball territory from which the Tigers scored a vital try on the eve of half time.
Saints spine still not clicking
Jack Welsby returning was always going to be a puzzle to solve and it’s one that Paul Rowley is yet to crack with the Englishman not hitting the heights in the halves, and Tristan Sailor not performing as well at full-back as he did prior to Welsby’s return.
Jonny Lomax came on after the third try and played in the halves with Welsby shunted to centre and it does seem to be a case of square pegs in round holes when it comes to Welsby. That cannot be a long-term solution but there is no obvious solution either.
With Welsby’s effectiveness blunted in the halves, it seems clear that he has to play at full-back but what that spells for Tristan Sailor is also unclear. Paul Rowley was firm at the start of the season that Sailor would be his six and he has to either go back to that or find a role for the Australian off the bench.
Young guns miss out for Saints
One possible solution, and a tactic that was employed earlier in the year, was Harry Robertson playing at six but the young centre was not even named in the squad today.
As yet, it’s unclear if that is injury related or not but Robertson was not the only young talent to miss out with second-row sensation Jake Davies only the 18th man.
Davies was thrust into the team due to injuries but he’s found himself out of the squad, benched, and out of the squad the past three weeks, and it’s hard to understand why.
Three-match ban incoming
Just a week on from Leeds’ Lachie Miller landing a three-match ban for making contact with an injured or potentially injured player, it looks like Semi Valemei is set to be banned for the same thing.
Only making his third appearance of the year, Valemei looks set to be sat down for three matches after touching Noah Stephens whilst the St Helens man was down on the floor. There was clearly no intent with Valemei’s actions only those of a concerned opponent, however, the rules and precedent has been set so he can expect a ban.
Welsby Sin Bin
Another man who could be on the end of a ban and was potentially lucky not to see red was Jack Welsby. The St Helens full-back was only sent to the sin bin for his shot on Daejarn Asi, a tackle off the ball where there was no attempt to wrap.
Video referee Tara Jones ruled that she could not determine the initial point of contact and you imagine that if it had clearly been contact to the head then Welsby would have been sent off.
More ill-discipline came from Welsby late on as he escorted a Cas kick-chaser off the ball with the Tigers then scoring off the result penalty.
Fellow spine star Jackson Hastings was also sent to the sin bin and could be fearing Monday’s disciplinary panel after a dangerous throw late on.
.@CTRLFC knock off 2nd placed Saints 🤯#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/pfeRb6LPqZ
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) May 23, 2026
