Castleford Tigers v Wigan Warriors - Tetley's Super League VI Round 27
Sunday 9th September 2001. Kick Off 3:30pm at The Jungle

Match Report by Chris Byron

Let me tell you about what I saw today at Castleford.

Overall, it was a lack luster performance from the men in cherry and white but perhaps it was expected after the draining game against Bradford last week. I could sit here and tell you that this was partly due to Radlinski's first half injury and the fact that Dallas also went off after 5 minutes, but in truth it just wasn't a good show from the lads.

Despite not firing on all cylinders, we still managed to beat one of the top clubs in Super League and I think that we need to bare this in mind when reflecting on the match. With Saints coming up next week and then the playoffs after that, I'd rather we played poorly now than later. At the end of the day this game was almost worthless in value.

Lam, Radlinski and Renouf all appeared on the score sheet early on and it looked at one point as if the warriors were going to run riot in an attempt to match Bradford's points difference, but sadly this never materialised. The home side hit back in the middle of these three Wigan tries in the form of winger Jonathan Roper. The youngster appeared to have restored a little life to the Castleford fans who began to roar with hope. It looked as if this game wouldn't be the forgone conclusion that many had expected.

Once again ref Steve Ganson had a fairly average game; making mistakes with decisions for both sides. Compared to some of the games I've seen him ref though, he did pretty well! Of course, that doesn't mean he had a particularly good game.

However, when Connolly and Johnson both crashed over, the game seemed to have been sealed. At half time the Warriors led 26-8 and surely this would have been enough to make most teams feel as if a comprehensive victory was just around the corner? Not Castleford. The tigers exploded in the second half as they took charge of the early exchanges and managed to pull back a few tries courtesy of Charles and Lennon.

The final nail in the Castleford coffin was nailed when Warriors winger Brian Carney dived over to end the Tiger's best spell of the game. It finished 30-22, but in honesty if both sides had taken their respective chances it could have finished with a lot more tries.

All in all I think we need to improve drastically if we are to beat Saints next Friday Night. I remain optimistic though (partly due to the injury of Farleigh) and am confident the boys will build on today and carry some good form through into the playoffs.

From a "supporter's" point of view, I would like to congratulate the thousands of Wigan fans that journeyed over the county line. And if you were at the game you'd know we took 5 drums. Well, I stood next to those drums all the way through the match (my mate owns three of them) and am now suffering from a headache! The noise our supporters produced was good, but I'm sure we can raise the roof on Friday. I'll ensure our lot are loud at the back of the (you guessed it!) South Stand and I ask of you to do the same with your lot. Wherever you sit! Who knows? We may even get a chorus from the West Stand!

Team Sheets

Score Sheet

Other Information

Attendance: 7,546