Castleford Tigers 21 Warrington Wolves 12 - Daryl Powell delighted with Super League round one win

Tigers won 21-12 at Emerald Headingley, despite losing Gareth O’Brien to injury midway through the first half.

The victory will send Tigers into Friday’s Betfred Super League round two derby against Leeds Rhinos, at St Helens, in confident mood.

“It’s pleasing, you always want to win first up and I think we did a good job of it.” Powell said.

Tigers were without Danny Richardson due to a wrist injury and O’Brien, who started at scrum-half, suffered a concussion at the end of the first quarter which will rule him out of Friday’s game.

Powell admitted his side were “rattled a little bit” by O’Brien’s departure, but praised Paul McShane for his stint as a makeshift half-back.

“I thought Gaz was playing great,” he said.

“It always seems to happen to us against Warrington, where we are playing with one half-back, or sometimes none!

“But we handled it pretty well and scored some smart tries down our left-hand side.

“It is a big win for us, we started the second half a bit scratchy, but got the game back and our defence was pretty solid for the main part.”

Debutants scored three of Tigers’ four tries, with Jordan Turner bagging a brace, both off passes by Niall Evalds who also touched down.

“Niall is a class player,” Powell observed.

“He has spent a fair bit of time in pre-season building up his combinations and you could see he has fitted into the team and the way we play.

“He has pretty electric speed and his pass selection is great as well.

“Our finishing on our left-edge was very good.”

McShane was the official player of the match in his first game since being named Man of Steel last year.

“It is vital you have players who can make things happen and organise and kick the ball as well,” Powell said

“Macca is a kicking nine, which is important so he can fulfil that role if he does have to drop into half-back.”