Warrington 56-12 Castleford: Wolves thrash Tigers to go joint top

Warrington half-back Chris Sandow

Warrington produced a blistering performance to move joint-top of the Super League by thrashing Castleford 56-12 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday.

Most of the damage was done in the first half as the rampant Wolves, who boast the competition's only remaining 100 per cent record, ran through the feeble Tigers defence for seven tries.

Four more followed after the break as the Wolves moved level  at the summit with neighbours Widnes, who they face in an intriguing derby next week.

The tries were shared out but the inspirational Chris Sandow, Tom Lineham and Ben Currie all finished with two apiece while closer inspection may yet see Matty Russell credited with a double.

Russell definitely scored one and may have a claim to another initially awarded to Kurt Gidley, who also kicked six goals.

Warrington led 38-0 at the break and might have had more had Rhys Evans not fumbled diving over the line and Lineham had one chalked off for a forward pass.

The procession started after just five minutes as Sandow wrong-footed the defence with a clever grubber kick and followed up to touch down.

A second quickly followed as Kevin Penny went over on the left and Lineham dived over for another on the opposite side.

There was conjecture over who claimed the fourth after a powerful charge by Ashton Sims pushed the Tigers defence back. Gidley was initially credited with the score but Russell and Brad Dwyer also emerged from a pile-up over the line.

Ben Currie scored two tries for Warrington

There was no debate over who got the next as Russell forced his way through some poor tackling to reach the line and Ryan Atkins was then sent over for a simple score.

Worse followed for the Tigers as Sandow broke from the resulting restart to spark a brilliant counter-attack that Currie finished off.

Sandow jinked through for another in the first minute of the second half before Cas finally stirred to set up former Warrington star Joel Monaghan's first try in Tigers colours.

Gadwin Springer sped through a gap to further reduce the arrears but normal service was resumed soon after the hour as Dwyer twisted his way out of a tackle and crashed over. Lineham brilliantly claimed a high kick in the corner to grab his second.

The pace of the game slowed in the latter stages after stoppages for injuries to Dwyer and Tigers pair Andy Lynch and Matt Cook, but there was still time for Currie to race over for his second.