WARRINGTON Wolves were completely outclassed by Castleford Tigers as they threw away a fourteen point lead to go down 14-34 at the Magic Weekend in Newcastle.
The Wolves looked in total control after racing into a 14-0 lead in the opening half hour with tries from Stefan Ratchford, Kurt Gidley and Ben Currie, with Gidley converting his own score.
But the Tigers hit back with two quick tries before the break with Luke Dorn finishing off a stunning try which see the ball kept alive through numerous pairs of hands on the last tackle followed by a try from Grant Millington two minutes before the break, both goaled by Luke Gale, to make it 14-12 at the interval.
The second half was pretty much one way traffic as the Tigers scored 22 unanswered points.
After the game a dejected looking Wolves’ Head Coach Tony Smith, reflecting on back to back defeats, admitted some of his players were “not at their best” and maybe should have scored more points when they had the momentum.
“We lost the momentum completely after the opening half hour and some of the boys have not been at their best. But we will go away and lick our wounds and there is some hard work ahead,” he added.
It had all started so brightly for the Wolves when Stefan Ratchford picked up a loose ball and raced away to score in the third minute. But Gidley’s conversion struck the upright.
On eight minutes Warrington were over again as the Tigers couldn’t live with their quick play the balls and were penalised for off-side. Gidley made the most of the possession powering over from close range and then adding the extras to make it 10-0.
Warrington continued to dominate but lost momentum as first Westwood was penalised for holding down in the tackle and then Russell lost the ball trying to wriggle over close to the line.
On 31 minutes the Wolves eventually made their domination pay as Russell fielded a high ball, raced half the length of the field and then slipped a pass to send Ben Currie over. But Gidley failed with the conversion attempt.
Four minutes later Castleford struck back with a superb try from Dorn which changed the whole direction of the game.
After narrowing the deficit to 14-12 at the break, the second half was pretty much all one way traffic, starting with Denny Solomona out jumping Tom Lineham to score on 46 minutes although Gale missed the conversion the Tigers were now 14-16 in front and playing with confidence.
Further tries came from Mike McMeeon 50 minutes, Solomona with his second on 57 minutes, Luke Dorn on 67 minutes, with two conversions and a penalty from Gale to add to Warrington’s misery.
It all started so well as Ratchford opened the scoring PICTURE EDDIE WHITHAM
Daryl Clark with Ben Currie in support PICTURE EDDIE WHITHAM
Wolfie entertains the fans -PICTURE EDDIE WHITHAM
A brawl breaks out Pictures Eddie Whitham
