Tigers Seal Late Win Over Warriors

Wigan made the trip to Castleford looking for a second successive win after the Wakefield victory while hoping to avenge the 18-4 defeat in the previous meeting last season.

A surprisingly average start saw Wigan go behind inside five minutes when Dorn picked out Dixon with the winger going over in the corner, Sneyd converted as the hosts led 6-0. The next set saw trouble as a mini-brawl saw Castleford given a penalty but saw Carney sent to the sin bin after a punch on WIgan's Bateman with Dorn taking advantage from the tap to go over for the try but Sneyd missed so the lead was 10-0.

Wigan were further behind after a high tackle from McIlorum on Dixon saw them penalised (Dixon was later found to have suffered a broken jaw from the incident) with Bowen failing to collect a Finn grubber after the penalty allowing Milner to score the try and Sneyd's conversion made it 16-0.

The away fans (myself included) were stunned at how shocking Wigan had started but we had a lot to cheer about soon after as Bowen made up for his error by collecting a Charnley pass from Smith's kick and danced over for the try but Smith couldn't convert and it was 16-4.

McIlorum and Taylor combined to send Green in for a try and Smith managed to convert closing the gap to a single score at 16-10 but Wigan scored a third successive try as Smith kicked on the fifth tackle and got lucky as he collected it and went in for the try but his failure to convert meant Cas led 16-14.


Wigan's indiscipline cost them again as Cas received a penalty and Clark scored the try to increase the lead with Sneyd's conversion making it 22-14. Wigan fought back in style with two quick tries that gave them a halftime lead, Smith found Clubb for a try and converted to bring the score to 22-20 but with seconds remaining in the first half, Burgess evaded two defenders to score a superb solo try and despite the missed conversion it meant the Warriors led 22-24.


The flurry of first half tries seemed to slow both sides as errors crept in and the next try didn't come until the 57th minute when Channing was wide open on the wing and put Cas back in front with Sneyd's conversion making it 28-24 but it was one of two blows for Wigan as Flower was sin-binned and Sneyd converted a penalty for a 30-24 lead.

Every Cas set seemed to include a penalty as the Wigan frustration grew and how Channing didn't add two more tries to his tally when he was consistenly left in acres of space on the win was due to some mixed defnece and his team-mates conceding penalties otherwise it could have been game over for WIgan.

That luck saw Wigan nearly draw level when Sarginson and Burgess combined but the winger's pass from the ground found no-one with the try line in sight and a massive chance went begging. The equality did come as Smith kicked and found Charnley on the wing for the try and Smith kicked a superb touchline conversion to level the game at 30-30.

Last seasons meeting at Cas saw Wigan win late on an it seemed to be a repeat situation for the Cas faithful as Smith swept over a one-pointer to give Wigan a 30-31 lead ans surely secure the win. However, the home fans were soon joyous as Wigan looked to be caught out thinking Cas were going for a levelling drop goal when instead Dorn dummied and went over for the match-winning try and Sneyd converted for an unassialable 36-31 lead with just seconds remaining.

The hooter sounded and Cas fans celebrated as it they had won the league but after such a good performance they deserved the win which is hard to say as a Warrior but Wigan just were not good enough overall. It was a nice trip despite the result and I would love to return next season maybe even earlier depending on potential meetings in the Challenge Cup or even the playoffs.