Tigers give Warriors a fright

Wigan tryscorer Ryan Hoffman

Wigan have gone top of the Engage Super League after overcoming a 16-10 half-time deficit to beat Castleford 26-16 at the DW Stadium.

The injury-ravaged Tigers went into the game having conceded 102 points in their last two outings and were expected to be easy meat for the defending champions.

But they gave Wigan an almighty fright before the Warriors finally took control of the contest with three unanswered tries in the 15 minutes after the break.

Wigan had lost just once in their last 13 games while Cas had just two wins in nine. The opening five minutes went with the form book.

A penalty and a goal-line drop-out gave Wigan three successive sets and they took advantage as Paul Deacon fired a pinpoint kick to the corner and Josh Charnley outjumped Joe Arundel to score.

With Pat Richards rested, Deacon took over the kicking duties and the veteran slotted over the goal from the touchline.

Wigan may have imagined this was set to be a stroll but their complacency was rocked on 10 minutes when the visitors scored from the ir first attck, Ryan McGoldrick superbly sucking in the cover defence before slipping Stuart Jones in for the try.

Heart

Joe Arundel missed the conversion but that score clearly gave Cas plenty of heart.

On 20 minutes they went ahead after a penalty for offside gifted them field position and after a flowing move, Richard Owen slid in at the corner and Arundel kicked his first ever goal.

Joel Tomkins thought he had levelled the scores only for Sean O'Loughlin's pass to be ruled forward, but on the half hour another Deacon kick into the right hand corner again caused havoc and three tackles later Charnley was free on the overlap to score in the corner.

Again Castleford rallied and they got their reward when Sam Tomkins fumbled a Rangi Chase grubber in-goal and John Davies seized on the loose ball to score, with Arundel giving the visitors a six-point lead at the break.

There was an inevitability about Wigan's comeback as they upped their intensity after the break and were rewarded with three tries in 15 minutes.

The increased pace and quick play the balls won a succession of penalties, which led in turn to tries.

After a blistering run by Sam Tomkins and a quickly-taken penalty, Liam Farrell crashed over and Deacon leveled the scores.

After another penalty George Carmont was over in the corner and on 55 minutes the same formula worked - penalty, quick play the ball, try - this time from Ryan Hoffman.

The Tigers continued to battle bravely but their last chance of a comeback was ruled out by the video referee, who decided Brett Ferres was held up over the line.

If there can be glory in defeat, it belonged to the Tigers. Wigan will just be happy with the two points.