Castleford stun Wigan to move off bottom of table

ByJay Freeman

BBC Sport England

Betfred Super League

Wigan (14) 14

Tries: Sambou, Eckersley Goals: Keighran 3

Castleford (6) 24

Tries: Mapapalangi 2, Ashworth, Lawler Goals: Weaver 4

Castleford Tigers lifted themselves off the bottom of Super League in style as they put in one of the performances of the season to beat Wigan Warriors.

The visitors led through Krystian Mapapalangi when he touched down within five minutes but Dayon Sambou put in an acrobatic finish to level for Wigan.

Zach Eckersley tipped the game in the hosts' favour but Jack Ashworth and Mapapalangi combined to hit back after the break.

The Tigers kept up the momentum as George Lawler went over as they saw out a memorable win which lifted them to 11th in the table.

Prior to Sunday's result, Wigan had won in 14 consecutive meetings with Castleford, whose most recent win against them came six years ago - a 16-12 victory at The Jungle in February 2020.

But it is almost nine years since they defeated the Warriors away from home, when they claimed a 38-20 Super 8s win in September 2017.

The result was Wigan's third successive Super League defeat and despite a promising showing with Sambou and Eckersley's scores, it was Castleford who dominated much of the 80 minutes.

Wigan, without Harry Smith and Sam Walters through suspension as well as front rower Ethan Havard because of injury, were stunned when Castleford led early on following a flowing set, with Mapapalangi exchanging passes with Jason Qareqare before running in.

The hosts almost responded through Jai Field soon after but Mikaele Ravalawa showed incredible strength to wrestle him out of bounds before he could get the ball down.

Sambou's sensational score was the pick of the first half, as he worked onto Eckersley's offload, absorbed Qareqare's tackle and outstretched his arm to ground the ball in mid-air before he went into touch.

Sambou and Eckersley linked up again shortly after, this time as Sambou beat Qareqare in an aerial battle. He tipped Jack Farrimond's kick to the corner into the path of Eckersley, who touched down for his fourth try in as many meetings with the Tigers.

Castleford's response after the break came via a clever pass from Tom Weaver as he sent Ashworth through to spin to the line under pressure from the hosts' defence.

The visitors were not done there and Mapapalangi raced down the wing as Castleford kept up the pressure, eventually receiving the ball again and chasing his own kick to ground his second try of the afternoon.

Cas asserted themselves further when Lawler powered over the line and could have put the gloss on a thumping win when Weaver went in, but his score was chalked off for obstruction in the build-up.

Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester:

"I'm very disappointed. We weren't good either side of the ball to be honest. I thought there was a period just before half-time where we put it together and got ourselves ahead.

"But the start of the second half we didn't defend or attack well. I think we had two sets in the first 20 minutes of the second half and with our ill-discipline we allowed Castleford to execute their gameplan.

"Every team is missing players but we need to be better than that.

"I think it's all part and parcel of trying to get a performance out of the team. There's not one particular element.

"Our right edge is getting a bit of traffic at the moment because we've got some young lads in there but we can work hard on the training field on that.

"What we need to do is improve our discipline and give more of a decent wrestle in the territory battle."

Castleford Tigers head coach Ryan Carr told BBC Radio Leeds:

"I'm really pleased for my players. They're working really hard. Our preparation hasn't changed from week one to week eight. They've trained just as hard, there's been just as much attention to detail, everything's been the same.

"What hasn't been the same is our consistency in our performance over 80 minutes. I knew I had that team out there today and I'm just happy that they get to show everyone that that's who we are.

"We're figuring who we are as a group and sometimes you've got to get punched in the face a little bit to realise what's going wrong and figure out how we as a group put ourselves in the best place to play well.

"But today was just a group of players who were willing to be that desperate for each other that no matter what, they weren't going to let the result go against us, and that was what pleased me so much."

Wigan: Field; Sambou, Eckersley, Farrell, Marshall; Keighran, Farrimond; Eseh, O'Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Partington, Ellis.

Interchanges: Mago, Forber, McDermott, Kerr.

Castleford: Windley; Ravalawa, McIntosh, Mapapalangi, Qareqare; Asi, Weaver; Atoni, Hood, Lawler, Lane, Mellor, Stimson.

Interchanges: Greacen, Ashworth, Hall, Hirst.

Referee: James Vella.