Wakefield continue good recent form crushing Castleford

by NRL

Wakefield Trinity's strong finish to the season continued with their second win this season over fierce rivals Castleford.

Australian scrum-half Tim Smith was in top form form as the Wildcats totally outplayed their neighbours to record a third successive Stobart Super League victory.

The Tigers, who slumped to their fifth defeat in six games, were 34-0 down before prop Paul Jackson opened their account with a 61st minute try; Nick Youngquest added another consolation score 11 minutes later.

Castleford welcomed back skipper Danny Orr, Josh Griffin and Jamie Ellis from injury after they all missed the 40-16 defeat at Wigan Warriors, while hooker Ryan Hudson made his 300th career appearance against his old club.

Wakefield's Kiwi second-rower Ali Lauitiiti returned after suspension to make his 200th first grade appearance in England. He replaced the suspended Oliver Wilkes.

Full-back Richard Mathers, who is on loan to Wakefield from the Tigers, made his 200th career appearance against his parent club.

The Wildcats were the first to threaten with Paul Sykes making a clever run andYoungquest doing well to gather Tim Smith's dangerous kick behind his own try line.

A knock-on by Castleford winger Rhys Williams 10 yards from his own try line led to Wakefield taking an 11th minute lead.

Lee Smith was halted just short from the resulting scrum before Ben Cockayne forced his way over from acting half.

Wakefield struck again four minutes later when Tim Smith made the space for Mathers to dart over and Sykes, who missed his first conversion but was then on target for the remainder of the afternoon, made it 10-0.

Castleford struggled to get a foothold in the game and often wasted limited possession with handling mistakes.

Kyle Amor went close and both Andy Ellis and Frankie Mariano were held up over the line as Wakefield continued to make most of the running.

On the rare occasions the Tigers got within striking distance of the try line they invariably lost the ball.

A superb 40/20 by Sykes gave the Wildcats another excellent attacking position but it was wasted when Tim Smith's pass was forward. He quickly made amends by dummying his way through Castleford's flat-footed defence after 35 minutes.

Castleford's best first-half spell came shortly before half-time but Wakefield survived the onslaught to retain a 16-0 lead their first-half dominance deserved.

The hosts' hopes of getting back in the game faded four minutes into the second-half when Tim Smith and Danny Kirmond linked to send in Dean Collis.

The Wildcats missed another gilt-edged chance three minutes later when Amor was unable to take Lee Smith's pass with the try line wide open.

It was only temporary respite for the Tigers because Kirmond then went over over from Tim Smith's pass.

The one-way traffic continued when Lee Smith capitalised on Tim Smith's kick to score before Castleford finally got a look in when Jackson plunged over from close range.

Youngquest finished a well-worked move to score the Tigers' second try seven minutes from time and Orr added the extras.

But the Wildcats had the last word when Tim Smith sent in Mathers for his second touchdown, with Sykes kicking his sixth goal.

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