Castleford trio pick up injuries in defeat to Wigan

Castleford coach Lee Radford confirmed three of his players suffered injuries in their 36-0 defeat to Wigan on Friday night.

The Tigers lost captain Paul McShane to a back spasm early on in his 200th appearance for the club.

On the other injuries Castleford picked up, Radford said: “Bureta Faraimo was a hip injury and Niall Evalds’ shoulder popped out.”

Radford was left to rue his side’s second half display after an encouraging first half as they were only 6-0 behind at the break.

He said: “In the first half, I was really pleased with the arm wrestle we were in.

“Performance-wise, I thought we showed a bit of fitness and had a couple of opportunities which we probably should have taken.

“In the second half, staying in that grind was obviously difficult with all the bumps and bruises that occurred.

“Coupled with some bad decisions, it all adds up to a scoreline like that but I was very pleased with how the first half went.”

Story of the game

Castleford began brightly, with prop Albert Vete making his presence felt up front and Joe Westerman producing some neat offloads.

The Tigers had Wigan pinned inside their own 20-metre line and were in a promising position, only for full-back Niall Evalds to overcook a pass intended for Greg Eden on the left flank.

From there the visitors advanced forward and went close when prop Mike Cooper was held up over the line.

The Warriors continued to probe while Castleford lost influential hooker McShane to injury inside the opening 10 minutes.

It was a major blow to the Tigers favourite on his landmark appearance for the club. He was replaced by Adam Milner.

The home side had a major attacking threat in Gareth Widdop and the close-season signing from Warrington’s intricate handling had Wigan on the back foot.

Neither team could find a touch of class needed to unlock their opposition defence.

A chance then came Castleford’s way when Mahe Fonua tried to send Eden clear but threw the ball into touch as another opportunity was spurned.

But, in the 38th minute, the deadlock was finally broken when some delightful passing culminated in Marshall racing over the line inside the left channel.

Harry Smith could not convert, but added a penalty on the stroke of half-time to put Wigan 6-0 up at the break.

Warriors 6-0 up at the break

Four minutes into the second half Wigan scored again. Bevan French’s last-tackle kick was fumbled by Widdop, leaving homegrown forward Havard a simple task to ground the loose ball.

Wigan scored their third try as Marshall intercepted Widdop’s pass and raced clear from deep inside his own half to score.

King then raced over from close range to underline Wigan’s superiority before Field did likewise. Smith converted both tries to claim 12 points.

Marshall scampered clear down the left flank to complete his treble.

Match details

Castleford: Evalds; Eden, Fonua, Broadbent, Faraimo; Widdop, Miller; Vete, McShane, Lawler, Edwards, Mellor, Westerman. Subs: Massey, Milner, Matagi, Watts.

Tries: Goals:

Wigan: Field; French, King, Wardle, Marshall; Cust, Smith; Singleton, Powell, Cooper, Isa, Farrell, Smithies. Subs: Havard, Ellis, Mago, Pearce-Paul.

Tries: Marshall (3), Havard, King, Field Goals: Smith 6

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