McShane and Richardson combine to earn Castleford win
SALFORD RED DEVILS 30 CASTLEFORD TIGERS 37 SUPER LEAGUE
DARYL POWELL has never suffered four successive Super League defeats as Castleford Tigers head coach; it is perhaps fitting that his side had to work so hard to ensure that record remained intact last night.
They had lost all three games since returning from lockdown and looked destined for another when trailing 18- 0 against Salford Red Devils after just 11 woeful minutes. However, with hooker Paul McShane at his wonderful
best, they managed to overhaul that deficit with four tries to take a 24- 18 lead before the half- hour.
Admittedly, it was never going to be simple from thereon in and it needed Danny Richardson’s 64th minute drop goal to put them 31- 30 ahead.
But McShane’s cleverness with the boot to force a drop- out saw Grant Millington latch onto Danny Richardson’s grubber and ease nerves in the 71st minute.
That said, they still needed Liam Watts’ timely tackle to deny Kevin Brown late on as Salford refused to go away.
Brown had kicked things off with the opening try. He intercepted George Griffin’s wayward pass and, even approaching his 36th birthday next month, the former England stand- off had no trouble racing in the 40m.
Castleford’s body language already looked poor when heads bowed after Niall Evalds - who Tigers announced at the weekend would be joining them in 2021 - sliced through some meek tackles.
Their goalline defence was worse still when Joey Lussick bundled over, Tui Lolohea’s third conversion placing Salford firmly in the ascendancy.
Fortunately, for Powell, his side quickly got a foothold in the contest when the lively Richardson dabbed forward and managed to regather his grubber to score.
England World Cup hopeful
McShane was central to their continued revival.
He darted out for a runaround with Nathan Massey before lofting a pass for Michael Shenton to cross and then used his strength to dummy over himself for Richardson’s conversion to make it 1818 after 27 minutes.
Tigers took the lead when McShane’s perfect pass near halfway sent Richardson haring into space, Gareth O’Brien arriving on his shoulder to finish off.
Still, the advantage did not last long; Watts spilled moments after Castleford had been awarded a set again and Lolohea slipped Luke Yates over far too easily before converting. Watts atoned by producing a quality offload to set Richardson free once more at the start of the second period, Mike McMeeken supporting to score.
Rhys Williams shrugged off Richardson and O’Brien to clamber over in the corner in the 53rd minute, Lolohea making it 3030, but Richardson then held his nerve.
Salford Red Devils: Evalds; Inu, Welham, Kear, Williams; Lolohea, Brown; Dudson, Lussick, Yates, Greenwood, McCarthy, Flanagan. Substitutes: Pauli, Ikahihifo, Burke, Ackers. Castleford Tigers: O’Brien; Olpherts, Foster, Shenton, Eden; Mata’utia, Richardson; Watts, McShane, Griffin, Holmes, McMeeken, Massey. Substitutes: Millington, Milner, Moors, Turner.
Referee: