Warrington too strong for woeful Castleford

Betfred Super League

Castleford (18) 18

Tries: Asi, Sharpe, Laulu-Togaga'e Goals: Weaver 3

Warrington (24) 48

Tries: Holroyd, Ashton 2, King, Sipley, Harrison, Hayes, Currie Goals: Irwin 8

Warrington scored seven unanswered tries to come from behind and boost their flagging play-off hopes.

The Wire were hit by three tries in eight minutes from Cas trio Daejarn Asi, debutant Tylor Sharpe and Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e after taking an early lead through Adam Holroyd.

The Tigers' inconsistency was quickly exposed however, as a series of defensive errors allowed Sam Burgess' side to take full control as Matty Ashton claimed two tries, Toby King scored his 100th career try and Toafofoa Sipley, James Harrison, Leon Hayes and Ben Currie took advantage, while Ewan Irwin kicked eight out of eight conversion attempts.

Victory moves Wolves, who had only won one of their four July fixtures, above Hull Kingston Rovers into fourth place.

Cas fans arriving at the OneBore Stadium would have been wondering which version of their team would show up - that which shocked leaders Leeds Rhinos in their previous home fixture, or the one which followed that exciting win by conceding 52 points against 12-man Wakefield.

Warrington themselves needed a win after some indifferent form and after the midweek boost of seeing captain George Williams return to training they began well as Holroyd finished after Asi's error had conceded possession deep in Tigers territory.

Cas then showed their attacking flair as Asi made up for his mistake with an equalising try, Sharpe showed good pace for his debut try and Laulu-Togaga'e pulled off two neat side-steps for another try that made it 16-6 to Ryan Carr's team.

The feelgood factor was short-lived however as the attacking prowess was undermined by some dire defence, as Wire cleared their heads, Ashton producing a trademark diving finish and King racking up his century of career tries as the lead quickly disappeared.

Sipley smashed through four would-be tacklers to extend that lead, trimmed by Tom Weaver's penalty on the stroke of half-time.

The six-point lead looked tenuous but Wolves simply surged away with the game as Harrison pounced on Weaver's fumble, Hayes gathered his own clever chip over the top and Ashton making it seven tries in seven games to make the win secure.

That second try came from a brilliant pass over the top from Cai Taylor-Wray, back in action for the first time since April.

Cas were in disarray, Alex Mellor being sin-binned for desperately holding down King as he seized a slack play-the ball deep in Cas territory.

King followed five minutes later for a barge which denied a try-scoring chance, but Currie capped off the scoring by spinning over the line to make it 100 points conceded by the hapless Tigers in their past two matches.

Castleford head coach Ryan Carr told BBC Radio Leeds:

"Deja vu, same as last week. We started really well, the game was going how we wanted it to because we were going after the game and playing some really good rugby.

"I can't sugarcoat it. It's more of an individual thing than a team thing. I saw the start coming, because it's what we worked on, and what we went out there to do, but it's like there are two different versions of people, and I didn't see that coming.

"It's an individual thing out there for certain people, that caused things. That affects the team and ultimately it's hard to come back from when you get down by a big score."

Warrington head coach Sam Burgess said:

"We got the job done. Parts of our game were a bit scratchy but it can be a tricky place to come and get two points so I'm happy with our attitude in most parts.

"It's important to start building your game. We're chipping away at a couple of areas. If we really want to have a run at the back end of the competition, we need to tidy up a few things.

"Our goal-line defence, especially on our right side, we conceded three really poor tries, so we need to do a bit of work. It was too easy, they didn't build any pressure, it was poor decision-making.

"The guys are not getting the job done to a high enough standard. There's a number of reasons, I don't want to get too technical, but, essentially, 'do your jobs'."

Castleford: Laulu-Togaga'e; Senior, Mellor, Mapapalangi, Sharpe; Asi, Weaver; Dupree, Hood, Lawler, Lane, Brown, Stimson.

Interchanges: Atoni, Ashworth, Robb, Hirst.

Sin-bin: Mellor (60)

Warrington: Webster; Hopoate, J. Smith, King, Ashton; Irwin, Hayes; Byrne, Walker, Thomas, Holroyd, Harrison, Currie.

Interchanges: Taylor-Wray, Powell, Sipley, Philbin.

Sin-bin: King (65)

Referee: Liam Moore.