Castleford Tigers 6 Warrington Wolves 18: Price right to praise Wolves' resilience at a waterlogged Mend-a-Hose Jungle

Warrington coach Steve Price praised his side's resilience after they overcame atrocious conditions to beat Castleford 18-6 in a mud bath at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle.
Warrington Wolvesheead coach, Steve Price. PIC: Richard Sellers/PA WireWarrington Wolvesheead coach, Steve Price. PIC: Richard Sellers/PA Wire
Warrington Wolvesheead coach, Steve Price. PIC: Richard Sellers/PA Wire

The Wolves scored tries at the end of each half through Toby King and Daryl Clark but for most of the contest were indebted to the marksmanship of Stefan Ratchford, whose three penalty goals were crucial.

“That was tough going considering the conditions,” Price said. “I’ve just spoken to Hilly (captain Chris Hill) and he’s never played in those conditions before.

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“I was always keen to play the game and it’s credit to Cas for going above and beyond to get the game to go ahead.

Stand-outs - Tigers' new man Liam Watts and Stefan Ratchford of Warrington. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotosStand-outs - Tigers' new man Liam Watts and Stefan Ratchford of Warrington. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos
Stand-outs - Tigers' new man Liam Watts and Stefan Ratchford of Warrington. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos

“Overall I thought it was a good spectacle. We had to play well against a good quality football team and our completion rate was 83 per cent. Sometimes you don’t need to look fancy.

“It was a tough battle and it’s good to get away with the two points.”

Warrington, who lost goalkicking centre Bryson Goodwin to illness before the game, have now secured four straight wins to consolidate their place in the top four of the Betfred Super League.

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“We’ve definitely started to turn the corner,” Price added. “I said it was always going to take a bit of time with new systems but we are starting to grow some trust in the organisation.”

Castleford coach, Daryl Powell. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotosCastleford coach, Daryl Powell. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos
Castleford coach, Daryl Powell. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos

Trailing 10-0 at half-time, Castleford struck back with a try from Oliver Holmes 12 minutes into the second half and thought they had drawn level when Jake Webster touched down in the 66th minute after Ratchford lost the ball near his own line only to have it disallowed.

“I spoke to Stef and it got kicked out of his hands,” Price said.

Castleford coach Daryl Powell had another view of the disallowed try but praised Warrington for their ability to play the conditions.

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“I thought we had some tough calls today,” Powell said. “I’m not sure he had it fully in his hands, I need to see it back.

Stand-outs - Tigers' new man Liam Watts and Stefan Ratchford of Warrington. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotosStand-outs - Tigers' new man Liam Watts and Stefan Ratchford of Warrington. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos
Stand-outs - Tigers' new man Liam Watts and Stefan Ratchford of Warrington. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos

“But I’m not blaming anybody but ourselves and a good performance by Warrington.

“I though both teams did a great job in the conditions. We started a little bit slow and that try before half-time was big for them.

“We were better in the second half but when we had an opportunity to get a grip of the game we made a couple of errors.

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“There are some key lessons for us, hopefully we’ll learn them.

Castleford coach, Daryl Powell. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotosCastleford coach, Daryl Powell. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos
Castleford coach, Daryl Powell. PIC: Matthew Merrick/RLPhotos

“Warrington are a tough side this year, they’ve got a real pragmatic approach.”

After having two matches postponed already this year, Powell was relieved to get the game out of the way.

“We had to play today,” he said. “We can’t fit another in, there is such limited time to get the fixtures in.”

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The other positives for the Tigers were an encouraging debut for former Hull prop Liam Watts and another impressive display at full-back by 19-year-old Jake Trueman.

“I thought Liam Watts was really good,” Powell said. “You can see he’s going to be awesome for us.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Jake, he had a superb performance and, when the pitches dry up, we will see a lot more from him but everybody targeting him and coming up with nothing.”