Wigan triumph over Tigers

• Match report as Wigan Warriors come away with the two points from Castleford Tigers.
• Liam Marshall was at the double as Wigan came from 12-points behind to beat Castleford on the road.
• FT | Castleford Tigers 12-32 Wigan Warriors.

Match Report as Wigan Warriors came from 12-0 down to score six unanswered tries and take the two points away from the Mend-A-Hose Jungle.

Castleford worked the ball well as they got to a two-score lead through Greg Eden and Kenny Edwards, Liam Marshall cut the deficit for Wigan with a great score out wide to see the half time score at 12-4.

Wigan turned the game around in the second half as they kept Castleford scoreless in the closing 40 minutes, but ran in five scores of their own. French opened the second half, finishing off a fine effort before Miski, Marshall, Bibby and Farrell added other efforts.

Report

Wigan started well and it was Liam Byrne who came closest to the opening score, the forward slipping a tackle to sneak up to the Castleford goal line but a tackle just short saw him lose the ball and it remained 0-0.

The home side did open the scoring though, a knock on seeing them get a set restart right on Wigan’s line and a fired out pass from Jake Trueman saw Greg Eden collect on the left wing to ease over, converted by O’Brien to make it 6-0 to Castleford after 6 minutes.

Iain Thornley was forced off the field on the 12 minute mark as he struggled to return to his feet with a leg injury. As the interchange was made Wigan kicked a 40/20 to get the Warriors in good field position but the pass out to Marshall on the wing went to ground and Cas’ had the ball back.

Castleford were awarded a penalty in the 17th minute as Jake Bibby was deemed to be offside, opting to go for a two-pointer Gareth O’Brien was off target from close range and the score remained 6-0.

The Tigers did double their lead though as the clock hit 23 minutes, Kenny Edwards ran at the defence and slipped two tackles to dive under the sticks, converted by O’Brien to make it 12-0. Wigan thought they’d got an instant response as a ball over the top from Bevan French found Liam Marshall who was in plenty of space but the referee called for a forward pass.

Castleford saw out the final 10 minutes of the half without Mahe Fonua, who was sent to the sin bin after seemingly kicking out at Liam Farrell during a tackle. Wigan took the man advantage as this time Liam Marshall on the wing collected cleanly to go in at the left corner on 33 minutes, the conversion from Harry Smith bounced off the uprights to make it 12-4 and that was how it stayed until half time.

A good defensive start to the second half for Wigan saw them keep Castleford inside their own 10m line for 3 consecutive tackles, before putting Mahe Fonua into touch on the next tackle. Back on the attack Ethan Havard was held up but Wigan went over after a sublime piece of play saw Liam Marshall put a through ball for Bevan French to collect and score. Smith added the extras this time to leave Wigan trailing by 2 at 12-10.

Just moments later Wigan were in again, they ran the ball right from the centre of the park to see it all the way out to Abbas Miski who danced his way over on the right touchline. Harry Smith added a perfect touchline conversion to put Wigan ahead at 16-12.

Liam Marshall made his a double as he went over in the 53rd minute, latching onto a no look pass out wide from Bevan French to ease over in the corner. Jake Bibby then got the ball down in the 61st minute, as the Tigers couldn’t hold him out, Harry Smith added his third conversion of the afternoon to put Wigan out to 26-12 going into the final quarter.

Liam Farrell added the cherry on top as he scored Wigan’s fifth unanswered score in the second half, Harry Smith added the extras and completed a hard-earned 32-12 win for the Warriors in Betfred Super League.

Gallery:

Castleford Tigers: Ryan Hampshire, Derrell Olpherts, Bureta Faraimo, Mahe Fonua, Greg Eden, Jake Trueman, Gareth O’Brien, Liam Watts, Paul McShane, George Griffin, Kenny Edwards, George Lawler, Joe Westerman.

Interchanges: Adam Milner, Nathan Massey, Daniel Smith, Suaia Matagi.

Tries: Eden (6′), Edwards (23′)

Goals: O’Brien 2/3

Sin Bin: Fonua (30′)

Wigan Warriors: Bevan French, Abbas Miski, Iain Thornley, Jake Bibby, Liam Marshall, Jai Field, Harry Smith, Brad Singleton, Sam Powell, Liam Byrne, Liam Farrell, Willie Isa, Kaide Ellis.

Interchanges: Patrick Mago, Oliver Partington, Ethan Havard, Joe Shorrocks.

Tries: Marshall (33′, 53′), French (44′), Miski (49′), Bibby (61′), Farrell (77′)

Goals: Smith 4/6

Referee: James Child

Attendance: 6,497