Castleford Tigers Supporters Club

The Tigers were on the receiving end of a Saints blitz as the league leaders tore Cas apart in a fashion that only St. Helens can do, leaving the Tigers on the wrong end of a 68-22 scoreline.

Lacking half a dozen regulars; James Evans, Dean Widders, Brett Ferres, Stuart Jones, Chris Feather and skipper Ryan Hudson, Terry Matterson included young forwards Nathan Massey and Ryan Boyle on the bench alongside James Ford, whilst Ryan Clayton was called up for his first appearance of the season.

Kirk Netherton started at hooker in place of Hudson and Ryan McGoldrick was recalled at ful back after his 2 game suspension with Richard Owen reverting back to the wing to accommodate the Aussie's return.

The writing was on the wall as early as the 2nd minute when Tony Puletua scored from a Sean Long pass. Long converted but was off target a couple of minutes later when Leon Pryce went in from close range to give the visitors a 10 point lead.

Saints quickly extended their lead to 22 points with Puletua completing his hat trick with 2 further tries in as many minutes. The 1st of these came as he broke through weak tackling to score from a Keiron Cunningham pass and then when McGoldrick failed to deal with a Long 'bomb' Puletua pounced for his third.

Long converted both tries but was off target when Matt Gidley shrugged off Michael Shenton to send Ade Gardner for a trademark try in the corner. Jon Wilkin then added another try which Long again goaled before an incident which caused the whole ground to hold it's breath.

Tigers loose forward Joe Westerman stooped to pick a loose ball when Lee Gilmour caught him with an attempted tackle. Westerman crashed to the ground and appeared to be in some distress, appearing to suffering a fit as he could be seen shaking as he lay injured. A lengthy stoppage ensued as medical staff from both sides came to his aid and eventually the Westerman was carried from the field. Thankfully he has been given the all clear after scans at Pinderfields Hospital.

As the game restarted, normal service was resumed as Wilkin went in for his 2nd try of the game. Again Long converted to give Saints a 38 - 0 lead.  

Cas hit back just before the break with McGoldrick and Sione Faumuina both going close before a pass from Kirk Dixon to Owen was knocked down by Chris Dean with the chance of a Tigers score. The ball was then move left and a runaround move between Faumuina and Sherwin saw the scrum half feed McGoldrick who in turn sent Shenton in for a well worked try which Dixon converted.

Attacking the Railway End Cas began to push forward after regaining possession from the kick off and within 6 minutes of the restart. Hard working prop Mitchell Sargent charged onto a McGoldrick pass for a score under the posts. Dixon again converted.

More Cas pressure saw Paul Wellens fail to deal with a Sherwin 'bomb' and from a resulting penalty a Craig Huby offload saw Boyle go close. Sherwin then put in a neat kick and Huby was unlucky not to ground the ball.

Bryan Hargreaves the grabbed another for Saints from close range which Long converted before McGoldrick's show'n go set up a try for Dixon which he was unable to convert.

Huby was then put on report for supposedly biting Pryce and from the Penalty Puletua went in for his 4th try which again Long converted to bring up the 50 mark for the visitors.

McGoldrick then got a ball away from a tackle to send Faumuina in for a try which Dixon converted before Wilkin completed his hat trick. Maurie Fa'asavalu crossed for another Saints try and Pryce went in for his second. All were converted by Long to give a final score of Tigers 22 Saints 68.

A bad day at the office for Cas and Terry Matterson will be hoping to have a few of his troops back before the long trips to Bridgend to face the Celtic Crusaders and Edinburgh for the 'Magic Weekend' fixture against Hull.

Tigers: McGoldrick, Owen, Dixon, Shenton, Wainwright, Chase, Sherwin, Sargent, Netherton, Higgins, Huby, Faumuina, Westerman. Subs: Clayton, Boyle, Massey, Ford

Saints: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Dean, Meli, Pryce, Long, Graham, Cunningham, Puletua, Gilmour, Wilson, Clough. Subs: Fa'asavalu, Roby, Hargreaves, Ashurst.

Referee: Ian Smith                                Attendance: 8003

Normytigers Man of the Match

1st Craig Huby 3 points

2nd Michael Shenton 2 points

3rd Ryan McGoldrick 1 point