St Helens 10-20 Castleford: Player ratings and major talking points

Tonight, the Tigers came up with a seismic win to give their play-off hopes a huge boost. At the home of the Champions, Castleford conjured up a character-filled performance to down the Saints becoming only the third side to do so this season.

Major Talking Points:

1. Castleford for the play-offs

Today, the Tigers showed all the attributes of a play-off outfit. They defended brilliantly, demonstrated great character as well as smarts to make the Champions struggle. Yes, a few things went there way but I saw enough in that performance to believe that the Tigers could find themselves in the top six before the end of the season.

2. Ill-discipline the word of the night

I can’t quite remember a game like this one. Both sides continued to surrender momentum thanks to a series of penalties and knock-ons. It culminated in a strange looking contest with an odd flow but with that came an intriguing tussle. Both the Tigers and the Saints will have to change that as we head into the latter stages of the season however as penalties nearly cost both sides.

3. Saints lacking something in attack

It was always going to be difficult for the Saints when they found themselves a man down, but I must admit that it looked like the Saints were missing something with the ball in hand for the majority of the game. But why? I’d attribute their inability to score points to the fact Jack Welsby started on the wing. Now I know what you’re thinking: he scored surely that worked and it did, Welsby is a great winger. But he’s also a great impact sub and offers their attack something a little different. I thought they missed that and had they been able to use Welsby in that manner, it could’ve been a different game.

Player Ratings:

St Helens
1 Lachlan Coote – 6
2 Tommy Makinson – 6
3 Kevin Naiqama – 6
4 Mark Percival – 7
18 Jack Welsby – 7
6 Jonny Lomax – 7
21 Lewis Dodd – 8
8 Alex Walmsley – 8
9 James Roby – 7
10 Matty Lees – 6
11 Joel Thompson – 7
20 Joe Batchelor – 8
14 Sione Mata’utia – 6
Substitutes
12 James Bentley – 7
15 Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook – 6
16 Kyle Amor – 6
17 Agnatius Paasi – 6

Castleford
1 Niall Evalds – 8
2 Derrell Olpherts – 6
3 Peter Mata’utia – 7
25 Jordan Turner – 7
23 Greg Eden – 8
31 Gareth O’Brien – 7
7 Danny Richardson – 7
24 Suaia Matagi – 6
9 Paul McShane – 8
10 Grant Millington – 8
11 Oliver Holmes – 8
21 Jesse Sene-Lefao – 7
22 Daniel Smith – 6
Substitutes
8 Liam Watts – 8
12 Cheyse Blair – 6
15 George Griffin – 8
19 Tyla Hepi – 6