Wakefield Trinity leapfrog St Helens into fourth after blowing away Castleford 34-0
There were two tries each from Jake Trueman and Oliver Pratt
Wakefield leapfrogged St Helens into fourth in Super League after two tries each from Jake Trueman and Oliver Pratt helped them blow away West Yorkshire rivals Castleford 34-0.
Trueman’s crunching tackle on Tom Weaver denied Castleford an early opening before the Trinity half-back barged his way over at the other end, stretching out an arm to get the ball down over the line.
Jason Qareqare looked to have got the hosts on the board but his foot had got into touch before dotting down and Wakefield had their second try in the 20th minute when Corey Hall went over in the corner.
Another Trueman interception denied Sam Hall a try before Tyson Smoothy collected an offload from Tray Lolesio, who had just come off the bench, to go over and put Wakefield 16-0 ahead at half-time.
Smoothy was denied a double for a knock-on but Wakefield extended their advantage with a penalty from Max Jowitt, who then teed up Pratt for an acrobatic finish in the corner in the 56th minute.
Some slick work allowed Cam Scott to get his first try of the afternoon, while Pratt had his second soon after to put Wakefield 30-0 ahead.
Pratt then turned provider as he ran down the right before switching inside to Trueman as he bookended the scoring in the 76th minute to put an emphatic stamp on Wakefield’s fifth successive win in all competitions.
They are level on points with league leaders Warrington – plus Leeds, Wigan and Saints – but the heavy loss means Castleford slip to the bottom of the standings, below York and Leigh, on points difference.
Wakefield coach Daryl Powell told a press conference after beating his former side: “Defensively, that’s the best we’ve been in most areas. I thought they were outstanding.
“When we got in good attacking positions, I thought we gave the ball away too cheaply, especially in the first half but towards the end of the second half, we started to look a little bit more clinical. You never get a perfect game but that’s as good as we’ve been over 80 minutes.”
His Castleford counterpart Ryan Carr told reporters: “Probably up until the point where Qareqare’s try got disallowed, it felt like that was where we thought the game would be, a close fight.
“Then for whatever reason, momentum swings against us and we’ve just got too many people who become victims in that moment and just feel sorry for themselves and don’t respond well enough. It’s something I need to get to the bottom of.”