Saints enjoy Jungle cruise

St Helens bounced back to winning ways with a 52-18 thrashing of Castleford Tigers on Easter Monday.

Saints lost to engage Super League leaders Wigan in the Good Friday derby but produced an immediate response at the Jungle.

The win sees Mick Potter's side, for whom James Roby and Kyle Eastmond were superb, keep pace with the pack of teams behind Warrington and Wigan, but Castleford have now lost seven of their 10 games and remain at the wrong end of the table.

Saints had raced into a 10-0 lead after Eastmond and Francis Meli crossed, but Cas hit back with tries from Craig Huby and Ryan Clayton to tie the scores.

But tries either side of half-time from Maurie Fa'asavalu, Roby and Meli gave Saints an 18-point lead.

Joe Westerman got a try back for the home side but further scores from Eastmond, Tony Puletua, Leon Pryce and Roby all went over.

Castleford had winger Michael Wainwright back after he had missed the Good Friday defeat at Wakefield, while hooker Kirk Netherton was among the replacements.

St Helens skipper Keiron Cunningham and back-row forward Chris Flannery both started after overcoming the shoulder injuries they suffered in the loss against Wigan.

Matty Ashurst and Nick Fozzard were also handed starting roles in the pack, with Pryce continuing at full-back in the absence of Paul Wellens.

Saints dominated the opening minutes and Eastmond finished off a well-worked try after nine minutes. Cunningham's delayed pass saw Puletua find a gap and his magnificent offload as he went to ground saw Eastmond go over, with the young half-back adding the extras.

Westerman put the restart out on the full and Saints capitalised as Ashurst's pass freed Meli down the left flank and the big winger made no mistake as he sauntered over in the corner. Eastmond failed with the tough touchline conversion.

But the Tigers hit back on 24 minutes after Puletua gave away a penalty close to Saints' line as he stripped the ball illegally in a two-man tackle. Huby made them pay by crossing under the posts, after good work by Sherwin in the build-up, with Westerman converting.

Thrilling attack

And Cas were soon level as they launched a thrilling attack from deep. The move looked to have died when second-row Stuart Jones held onto the ball with men outside him, but Rangi Chase's brilliant offload allowed Sherwin to put Clayton over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Terry Matterson's side should have taken the lead just before the break but Ainscough and Michael Shenton were unable to hold on just short of the line, before Ade Gardner failed to ground Eastmond's delicate chip at the other end after a bullocking run from Roby.

Roby's bursts from dummy half were proving problematic for Cas and another strong run from the England hooker set up the field position for Fa'asavalu to crash over, Eastmond's conversion giving the visitors a 16-10 interval lead.

The outstanding Roby extended that lead early in the second stanza as Pryce's offload opened up a path to the posts, with Eastmond adding the conversion.

Another try followed instantly as another Roby burst allowed Pryce to break through, before Meli went over out wide for his ninth try of the season, Eastmond's conversion making it 28-10.

The Tigers hit back as Chase's flat pass saw Westerman break a tackle to reach out and score, although the young loose-forward failed with the conversion.

But any hopes of a comeback were quickly ended as Eastmond burrowed underneath a couple of tackles to wriggle his way over the line before adding the simple conversion, and Puletua crashed over from close range moments later.

The game was by now one-way traffic and Pryce worked his way over out wide to further extend the lead.

And Pryce turned provider a few minutes later as his superb offload gave Roby an easy finish for his second try, which Eastmond converted, before Shenton crossed on the hooter for the hosts.