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By Steven Baker, PA Sport Castleford pulled off the biggest surprise of Super League IV so far with a brilliant victory at the home of champions Wigan. The Tigers led from the 11th minute, when Brad Davis crossed, before tries from Jon Wells, Adrian Vowles and Lee Harland sealed the two points. Woeful Wigan had just a Mark Reber touchdown and two Andy Farrell goals to show for their efforts and were booed off by the majority of what was a disappointingly low Central Park crowd of 8,856. The sizeable Castleford contingent, though, were left celebrating their first victory over the Warriors since the start of summer rugby in 1996. Cas are now third in the table - their highest ever Super League placing - leapfrogging Wigan with this result, and John Monie's men have now lost two games in a row following last week's 19-8 reverse at Halifax. Castleford tackled themselves to a standstill, giving their hosts little chance to throw the ball wide, and had more ideas than the Warriors when they had possession. Indeed, it was a clever piece of work by Danny Orr - one of the stars of the season so far - which enabled the Tigers to take the lead. The 20-year-old's kick on the last tackle caught the Warriors napping and Davis galloped into the open space to touch down. Orr landed the conversion and after he and Farrell had exchanged penalties, Cas went further in front on 31 minutes. Wells' strong run took the visitors upfield after they had been deep inside their own half before Francis Maloney broke through Danny Moore's tackle and provided Wells with the pass which allowed the winger to touch down in the corner. The half-time break did nothing to spark Wigan into life and after Dean Sampson had been held up on his back over the line, Cas stunned Central Park with their third try of the afternoon. Wigan were having trouble containing Davis and it was the scrum-half who sent the impressive Vowles crashing over, with Orr adding the extras for his third goal of the day. The home fans then began to turn on the Warriors, who were giving an error-strewn performance, and they were finding the Tigers defence impossible to pierce. It took a mistake from Darren Rogers to allow Wigan to cross the tryline on 70 minutes, the winger spilling the ball in the tackle and Mark Reber reacting quickest to crash over. Farrell's conversion put his side within 10 points but the Tigers killed off any ideas they may have had about mounting a comeback with a try five minutes from time. Davis and Jason Flowers did well to keep the ball alive before Lee Harland powered his way over, with Ian Tonks' conversion rounding off the scoring. By Ian Laybourn, PA Sport Bradford's dead-eyed marksman Steve McNamara landed a 40-metre penalty four minutes from time to tie the scores in a Super League thriller at Wheldon Road. Castleford, urged on by their biggest ever Super League crowd of 10,122, looked to have stolen victory when they took the lead for the first time with Gael Tallec's 72nd-minute try. But the Bulls overcame the late dismissal of prop Paul Anderson to earn a penalty, and McNamara kept his nerve to land his fifth goal from as many attempts and lift his side to within a point of leaders St Helens. Castleford, with second place in Super League beckoning, had themselves shrugged off the loss of key playmaker Danny Orr with a knee injury midway through the second half to set up a grandstand finish to a match played at breakneck speed in sultry conditions. The Tigers, who went into the game with the best defence in Super League, outscored the visitors by three tries to two - but defeat would have been tough on either side. Bradford, bolstered by the return of Robbie and Henry Paul from international duty, started the more impressively, with hooker James Lowes and second-rower David Boyle at the forefront of some lively play. Loose forward McNamara scored all the Bulls' first-half points with three goals and a 13th-minute try, the result of an outrageous dummy which followed a superb break by Henry Paul. The Bulls were forced to show their mettle in defence as Castleford launched a series of counter-attacks, with winger Michael Withers demonstrating his strength to haul Jon Wells into touch as he went for the line. But Castleford's persistence paid off when long-serving prop forward Dean Sampson, noted more for his try-making than try-scoring in his 334 matches for the club, knocked defenders flying on a 10-metre barge to the line to grab his first score of the season and the 50th of his 10-year career. Stuart Raper's men, trailing 10-6 at half-time, clawed back the deficit to just two points with an Orr penalty after Bradford's Stuart Spruce was ruled to have held down Adrian Vowles in the tackle - a professional foul that earned the full-back a spell in the sin bin. But the Bulls made light of their numerical disadvantage to extend their lead on 50 minutes when Boyle slipped out a tackle-beating pass for Robbie Paul to touch down, McNamara's fourth goal making it 16-8. Castleford's prospects then looked bleak when Orr was helped off with a knee injury, but they got back to within four points when Darren Rogers, having switched inside from the wing in his side's enforced reshuffle, raced on to Aaron Raper's pass to cross for his ninth try of the season. Francis Maloney, taking over the goal-kicking, was unable to add the conversion but was on target when substitute Tallec burst past tired defenders to touch down for his first try of the season with his first touch of the ball. Bradford, who had centre Danny Peacock taken off on a stretcher in the second half, had McNamara placed on report for a suspect challenge on Jason Flowers and were down to 12 men again when Anderson received his marching orders after appearing to lead with his forearm going into a tackle from Lee Harland. Castleford scrum-half Brad Davis was then adjudged to have stolen the ball from Tevita Vaikona in a two-man tackle, giving McNamara the chance to secure a vital point before Maloney was short with a late drop-goal attempt. © PA Sporting Life London Broncos paid the price for wayward goal-kicking as Castleford Tigers held them to a draw at The Stoop. Broncos scored three tries to Cas' two but between them Rob Smyth and Chris Ryan failed with the conversions - Ryan also missed a penalty - to let the visitors off the hook. Cas struck first through an Aaron Raper try. Brad Davis, Raper and Jon Wells combined before Raper plunged over and Francis Maloney goaled. Broncos hit back on 18 minutes when Rob Smyth eluded Jason Flowers and raced 50 yards for a superb solo try. Five minutes before the break, Broncos substitute Dean Callaway spotted a yawning gap in the Tigers' defence and jinked through it to claim a second home try. After the interval Broncos introduced Martin Offiah, returning from a dead leg suffered in the Challenge Cup final defeat against Leeds Rhinos. Offiah's arrival galvanised the Broncos still further and he left Flowers for dead on a 50-yard burst to the line to give the home side a 12-6 lead. But Cas hit back when Francis Maloney carved out a gap for Davis. He found top gear and although Broncos wing Don Peters caught him to make the tackle, Davis had freed Darren Rogers who charged over. Maloney goaled level the scores. Ryan then missed a penalty and Scott Cram spilled the ball before grounding when a try seemed a certainty a minute later. Cas' Maloney and Davis and Broncos' Glen Air and Shane Millard exchanged failed drop goal attempts in the closing minutes. © PA Sporting Life Castleford boosted their top five hopes by cutting short Sheffield's recent revival. The Tigers, who have been beaten only once since their Challenge Cup semi-final defeat against London in March, did the spadework in the first half by building a 10-0 interval lead. Sheffield loose-forward Rob Doyle went over three minutes from the end and Martin Pearson added the conversion but it wasn't enough to rescue the Eagles. Sheffield's Darren Turner was held on his back over the line early on and centre Keith Senior had a 17th-minute touch-down disallowed after following up Johnny Lawless' high kick. Castleford's Brad Davis then had a try ruled out for a knock-on before the Tigers broke the deadlock when Danny Orr, Davis and Adrian Vowles handled to put centre Francis Maloney over after 22 minutes. Four minutes later the Tigers stretched their lead to 10 points when Aaron Raper's intelligent kick 10 metres out created a try for loose forward Vowles, which Orr improved. Sheffield tried to turn things round in the second half but were unable to find a way through an impressive Tigers defence. Raper gave Castleford a good attacking position with a superb kick which led to Sheffield's Pearson tackling Maloney into touch five yards short. Referee Steve Nicholson put Castleford prop Dean Sampson on report for a 64th-minute incident involving Sheffield's Michael Jackson, in which the Tigers player seemed to lash out with his foot. Jackson then had a try ruled out for a forward pass from Senior before Pearson finally put Doyle in for a late score. It was too little too late as Castleford held out to stretch their unbeaten run to four matches. © PA Sporting Life Top five chasing Castleford Tigers claimed two more points at the expense of bottom-of-the-table Hull Sharks. Castleford didn't have to play at their best as Hull turned in a woeful performance and virtually handed the visitors the game. Tigers props Dean Sampson and James Pickering blasted huge gaps in a weak Hull defence and the rest was fairly elementary. Hull's only moment of joy came with a Steve Prescott penalty in the third minute but from then on it was downhill all the way. As Hull made elementary errors by the minute they put their under-fire coach Peter Walsh under more pressure. By half-time the game had virtually gone as Castleford strolled into a 16-2 lead. Brad Davis started the rot for Hull with a 16th-minute try and then former Hull favourite Brad Hepi hammered another nail into the coffin when he went over and before the break Sampson capped a rampaging performance when he crossed the Hull line. Hopes of a revival after the break disappeared as Hull were made to pay for their appalling errors. Fili Seru twice lost the ball inside his own 30 metres and each time Castleford made it count with Darren Rogers twice crossing the line. Inbetween, another former Hull player Richard Gay went over after Hull had again shot themselves in the foot. |
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