Qareqare's Hat-Trick Leads Castleford to Win Over St Helens
Jason Qareqare scored Castleford's first two tries and completed his hat-trick after half-time, playing a pivotal role in Castleford Tigers' impressive victory against a below-par St Helens in the Super League.
Tries: Qareqare 3, Greacen, Golding
Goals: Weaver 5
Tries: Murphy, Dagnall
Goal: Sailor
St Helens were aiming for a sixth consecutive Super League win, which would have propelled them back to the top of the table ahead of Leeds, who had recently defeated Huddersfield. However, after this defeat, Saints remain second on points difference, following a strong performance from Castleford, who delivered one of their best displays of the season.
Castleford established a 10-0 lead at half-time, courtesy of two well-executed tries by winger Jason Qareqare and a penalty goal by Tom Weaver. Brock Greacen extended the lead early in the second half, and although Lewis Murphy responded with a try for St Helens, any momentum gained by the visitors was quickly halted when Qareqare completed his hat-trick on Castleford's next attacking set.
Ashton Golding added a final try to round off a successful afternoon for the hosts under the Yorkshire sunshine, with Owen Dagnall scoring a late consolation try for St Helens.
The decisive period of the match occurred around the half-time interval, during which Castleford scored two of their five tries while Saints half-back Jack Welsby was temporarily sidelined in the sin bin following a late collision with Daejarn Asi. Castleford were already leading 4-0 at that point but had extended their advantage to 16 points by the time St Helens returned to full strength.
Castleford secured back-to-back Super League wins with a disciplined performance, while St Helens struggled to find fluency throughout the match. The visitors' difficulties were exemplified in the sequence following Murphy's try, when Dagnall failed to cleanly gather Weaver's bouncing kick-off, allowing Qareqare to score his third try. Subsequently, from the restart, Tristan Sailor kicked the ball out on the full, further disadvantaging St Helens.
From that point, Castleford managed the game comfortably, converting the available two-point opportunities and adding further polish to the scoreline with Golding's late try.
Carr Praises 'Unbelievable' Tigers - Post-Match Reaction
Castleford head coach Ryan Carr spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live about the team's performance:
"It was unbelievable and something I knew was here in the group. We just had to keep going after it and not let outside noise dictate how we felt and played. We've stayed on course from day one and we're going to keep staying on course. We'll have bumps and bruises along the way but if we can continue to put more performances like that out there, we'll be better as a club. Defensively, I was really impressed. We worked hard on that through the week because we know they're a potent attacking team, so to keep them to a low score is something I'm more pleased about than the points we scored."
St Helens head coach Paul Rowley also provided his perspective to BBC Radio 5 Live:
"We were double figures in errors and double figures in penalties against - that's not compatible to winning performances. Those two factors contribute to fatigue, then you lose the physicality as well and it doesn't give you a chance to regain momentum. Cas had the momentum for pretty much all of that game, to be honest. It was remarkable to go in at half-time within touching distance. That gave us an opportunity if we scored first, but the trend of giving away cheap possession and unforced errors continued. We came out with belief and enthusiasm, but credit to Castleford, they continued what they did in the first half and unfortunately we copied and pasted as well with the errors and the penalties."
Team Line-Ups
Castleford: Laulu-Togaga'e; Valemei, Cini, Mapapalangi, Qareqare; Asi, Weaver; Stimson, Golding, Dupree, Lane, Mellor, Lawler.
Interchanges: Atoni, Greacen, Hall, Robb.
St Helens: Sailor; Dagnall, Cross, Percival, Murphy; Welsby, Hastings; Klemmer, Clark, Delaney, Sironen, Whitley, Shorrocks.
Interchanges: Lomax, Walmsley, Wright, Stephens.
