Castleford 32-15 Wakefield: Tigers extend derby dominance with 14th straight win
By PA
Last Updated: 22/02/20 7:13am
Long-serving forward Oliver Holmes marked his 200th appearance for Castleford with the clinching try as the Tigers cruised to a 14th successive derby win over Wakefield.
Trinity were poised to end their five-year losing streak when they led 15-14 at half-time but paid a high price for the sin-binning of substitute James Batchelor as they conceded two tries while down to 12 men.
Wingers Derrell Olpherts, a one-time Wakefield fan, and James Clare both scored two tries apiece as the Tigers kept their own line intact in the second half to run out 32-15 winners.
On a cold and windy night at the Jungle, errors were aplenty and it was a fumble from Castleford full-back Jordan Rankin that paved the way for the opening try.
Former Cas centre Joe Arundel pounced on the ball in a superb attacking position and in the next play captain Jacob Miller got another ex-Tiger, loose forward Joe Westerman, through a gap for the opening try.
Ryan Hampshire kicked the conversion and added a penalty after 10 minutes to extend his team's lead to 8-0.
Aided by back-to-back penalties, the home side found a purple patch to run in two quickfire tries to go in front, second rower Cheyse Blair touching down Paul McShane's grubber kick and Danny Richardson floating out a superb pass for Olpherts to touch down at the corner.
Wakefield roared back, though, and, after Westerman and Jay Pitts were held up over the line in some resolute defending, second rower Matty Ashurst squeezed a pass out of a two-man tackle and winger Tom Johnstone took in Miller's cut-out pass to finish in spectacular fashion at the corner.
There was little to choose between the teams at that stage and the Tigers regained the lead nine minutes before half-time after creating an overlap for Clare to score their second try.
That made it 14-12 but there was still time for Hampshire to bring the scores level with a penalty and for Miller to nudge his side back in front with a drop goal on the hooter.
Wakefield coach Chris Chester was forced to re-jig his side after Arundel hobbled off on the stroke of half-time, with Pitts shifted out to the centre, and he watched his side concede again three minutes into the second half.
Castleford captain Michael Shenton looked to have been stopped a metre short of the line but he got out a pass for Clare to go in for his second try.
Richardson was off target for the third time but he made amends with a penalty after Holmes was taken out off the ball by Batchelor, who was given 10 minutes into the sin bin.
The Tigers made full use of the extra man as they scored two further tries in Batchelor's absence to put the game beyond the visitors' reach.
Holmes profited from a kind bounce as he chased McShane's grubber kick while Olpherts got on the end of a smart pass by Peter Mata'utia, back in the side after serving a two-match ban, to score his second.
Wakefield had a second man put in the bin when Frenchman Romain Navarrete paid the consequence for a team warning and Richardson wrapped up the scoring in the final minute with a penalty.
