Magic Weekend at St James’ Park, Newcastle
CASTLEFORD coach Daryl Powell hailed his comeback kids after Luke Dorn and Denny Solomona helped the Tigers roar back from 14-0 down.
Dorn and Solomona both bagged try doubles as Powell’s side scored 34 unanswered points after struggling for the first half-hour.
Cas have some of the form players in Super League at present in Junior Moors, Luke Gale, Solomona, Dorn and Mike McMeeken – and all played their part in an impressive team performance.
Asked what he was thinking at 14-0 down, Powell responded: “Help! I
thought Wolves started outstandingly well and we were a little bit slow out of the blocks.
“But we got some confidence in the 10 minutes before half time, and the second half was absolutely outstanding – as good as you’ll see.
“We’re hitting some decent form on the back of getting some players back and we’ve got that confidence about us at the moment.
“But we’ve a bit of a way to go yet to give ourselves a chance.”
There was little hint as to what would unfold when the Wolves stormed into their early 14-point lead.
Stefan Ratchford was central to most of their best work, racing clear from 65 metres out to open the scoring.
Kurt Gidley then wriggled over from close range, before Matty Russell’s superb kick return ended with Ben Currie crossing for a third.
But Castleford gained a foothold in the contest with two tries before the break – and they were unstoppable in the third quarter.
A total of nine passes and one kick ended with a brilliant first try for Dorn, before Grant Millington was involved twice before powering over to make it 14-12 at the interval.
Solomona then grabbed his first – soaring above Tom Lineham for a stunning try that was almost matched for skill by McMeeken moments later.
The in-form back rower took a Gale pass and stretched out one-handed to touch down.
The Tigers were totally dominant now and, directly from a scrum, Gale and Dorn combined to send Solomona clear for his second.
Dorn completed his own double by supporting a rampaging run from Moors to complete the scoring with 13 minutes left.
Defeat for the Wolves was their fourth loss in six league games – and coach Tony Smith admitted his disappointment at the way his side allowed their grip on the game to slip.
Smith said: “I thought we had good control of the momentum of the match in the first 30 minutes and should have scored more points.
“Cas threw caution to the wind in the last seven or eight minutes of the half, it came off for them and that knocked some of the wind out of our sails. We need to be better than that and we’ll learn some lessons from it.”