6 conclusions from Warrington Wolves’ win at Castleford Tigers as a star is born

Warrington Wolves moved back into Super League’s top two, at least temporarily, with a hard-fought 28-6 win away against Castleford Tigers on Friday night.

These are our six key conclusions from the clash at The Jungle…

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A Wire star is born

Cai Taylor-Wray. Remember the name. It wasn’t his debut having made two appearances prior to Friday night, but the teenage full-back put in a tremendous performance and deservedly scooped Sky Sports’ man of the match award.

Trusted to deputise for the injured Matt Dufty, 18-year-old Taylor-Wray delivered a try-saver on Cas counterpart Jenson Windley in the first half, and then danced his way over for a try of his own, a first at senior level.

Those two moments are the ones that will be remembered for years to come by the youngster, and his family and friends, but he was simply electric throughout.

Warrington make Sam Burgess’ mammoth journey worthwhile

Wire head coach Sam Burgess was in Sydney on Wednesday evening being formally inducted into the NRL’s Hall of Fame, the first Englishman to receive that honour.

Less than 48 hours later, he was being serenaded by the travelling Wolves faithful during his post-match interview at The Jungle having only landed back in the UK on Friday lunchtime.

Over 10,500 miles travelled and very few hours of sleep, but it was all made worth it by seeing his side get the job done in West Yorkshire. We’re sure his bed is calling now, though!

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Matty Ashton’s phenomenal H2H streak continues

In addition to young gun Taylor-Wray, experienced head John Bateman, back-rower Matty Nicholson and flier Josh Thewlis were all also on the scoresheet with tries for the visitors.

But so too was Matty Ashton, who went over with a flying finish in the corner late on after some quite ridiculous build-up play (which we’ll get on to).

In dotting the ball down, Ashton made it four consecutive games against the Tigers in which he’s scored at least once. That’s now six tries in those last four meetings overall, and we’re sure Cas will just be glad to not be facing him again until next year.

THAT pass from George Williams

We mentioned the build-up play that led to Ashton’s try… it was sparked by an absolute moment of magic from skipper George Williams.

Under pressure from at least three Tigers defenders, he managed to wrestle an arm free and offload the ball between his own legs into the hands of Nicholson.

The ball then got worked left, and Ashton scored with a remarkable finish of his own. A quality 30 seconds or so!

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Castleford’s defence found lacking

Friday night’s game wasn’t really one you could look at and pinpoint one reason that Castleford lost, but having delved into the stats via the Super League website, there will be one area which boss Craig Lingard is hugely disappointed in.

That area is the number of missed tackles. Cas missed 42, while the Wolves missed just eight. To state the obvious, that’s over five times more missed by the hosts than the visitors, and that simply means more attempts were needed to bring opponents down than the other way round.

Against a Warrington side that can quite easily sap the energy out of you given their relentless nature, missing that many tackles is criminal.

Tigers’ trust in youth continues

We’ve mentioned him already as Taylor-Wray made the try-saving tackle in the first half on him, but Cas’ trust in youth continued on Friday night as they handed teenager Jenson Windley a debut.

He’d been the unused 18th man against Leigh Leopards earlier this month, but the clash with Wire was the first time he’d ever been on the field in a game at senior level.

Slotting into the halves, we thought the youngster showed up well overall, perhaps just lacking the bit of nous in certain situations, which inevitably comes with experience and time.

The Fords have now fielded 10 academy products in Super League this season, and on a largely forgettable evening, that’s certainly something to be proud of.

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