Castleford Tigers Secure Vital Win at Wigan
Castleford Tigers achieved a significant victory over Wigan Warriors, lifting themselves off the bottom of the Super League table with a commanding performance. The last time Castleford won at Wigan was in September 2017.
Scoring summary:
Castleford Tries: Sambou, Eckersley
Goals: Keighran 3
Wigan Tries: Mapapalangi 2, Ashworth, Lawler
Goals: Weaver 4
The visitors took an early lead through Krystian Mapapalangi, who scored within five minutes. Wigan's Dayon Sambou responded with an acrobatic try to level the score. Zach Eckersley then put Wigan ahead, but Castleford fought back after halftime with tries from Jack Ashworth and Mapapalangi.
Castleford maintained momentum as George Lawler scored, helping the Tigers secure a memorable win that moved them to 11th place in the league standings.
Before this match, Wigan had won 14 consecutive meetings against Castleford. Castleford's most recent victory over Wigan was a 16-12 win at The Jungle in February 2020, but their last away win against Wigan was nearly nine years ago, a 38-20 Super 8s victory in September 2017.
This defeat marked Wigan's third consecutive loss in Super League. Despite promising tries from Sambou and Eckersley, Castleford dominated much of the 80 minutes.
Wigan were without key players Harry Smith and Sam Walters due to suspension, and front rower Ethan Havard was sidelined with injury. Castleford stunned the hosts early with Mapapalangi scoring after a flowing set, exchanging passes with Jason Qareqare before crossing the line.
Wigan nearly responded through Jai Field, but Mikaele Ravalawa demonstrated remarkable strength to push him out of bounds before he could ground the ball.
Sambou's try was a highlight of the first half, as he capitalized on an offload from Eckersley, absorbed a tackle from Qareqare, and extended his arm to ground the ball mid-air before going into touch.
Sambou and Eckersley combined again shortly after; Sambou outjumped Qareqare in an aerial contest, tipping Jack Farrimond's kick to the corner for Eckersley to score his fourth try in as many games against Castleford.
Castleford's Second-Half Surge
After the break, Castleford responded with a clever pass from Tom Weaver to Jack Ashworth, who spun under pressure to score. The Tigers continued to apply pressure, with Mapapalangi sprinting down the wing, regaining possession, and chasing his own kick to secure his second try of the match.
Castleford further asserted themselves when George Lawler powered over the line. Although Tom Weaver appeared to score later, his try was disallowed for obstruction during the build-up.
Post-Match Reactions
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet spoke to BBC Radio Manchester:
"I'm very disappointed. We weren't good either side of the ball to be honest. I thought there was a period just before half-time where we put it together and got ourselves ahead.
But the start of the second half we didn't defend or attack well. I think we had two sets in the first 20 minutes of the second half and with our ill-discipline we allowed Castleford to execute their gameplan.
Every team is missing players but we need to be better than that.
I think it's all part and parcel of trying to get a performance out of the team. There's not one particular element.
Our right edge is getting a bit of traffic at the moment because we've got some young lads in there but we can work hard on the training field on that.
What we need to do is improve our discipline and give more of a decent wrestle in the territory battle."
Castleford Tigers head coach Ryan Carr told BBC Radio Leeds:
"I'm really pleased for my players. They're working really hard. Our preparation hasn't changed from week one to week eight. They've trained just as hard, there's been just as much attention to detail, everything's been the same.
What hasn't been the same is our consistency in our performance over 80 minutes. I knew I had that team out there today and I'm just happy that they get to show everyone that that's who we are.
We're figuring who we are as a group and sometimes you've got to get punched in the face a little bit to realise what's going wrong and figure out how we as a group put ourselves in the best place to play well.
But today was just a group of players who were willing to be that desperate for each other that no matter what, they weren't going to let the result go against us, and that was what pleased me so much."
Team Line-Ups
Wigan: Field; Sambou, Eckersley, Farrell, Marshall; Keighran, Farrimond; Eseh, O'Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Partington, Ellis.
Interchanges: Mago, Forber, McDermott, Kerr.
Castleford: Windley; Ravalawa, McIntosh, Mapapalangi, Qareqare; Asi, Weaver; Atoni, Hood, Lawler, Lane, Mellor, Stimson.
Interchanges: Greacen, Ashworth, Hall, Hirst.
