Castleford’s position as one of the three best teams this season may surprise some observers but Daryl Powell was in no doubt about this home victory. “We deserved to win the game,” was how Powell called it after their narrow victory against Salford.
St Helens, Warrington and Castleford are the early pacesetters – the Saints two points clear of the other two – after an engrossing opening to a campaign in which the past two champions, Leeds and Wigan, are joint-bottom and the two pre-season favourites for relegation, London and Salford, already well clear of trouble.
Castleford, having lost their star scrum-half, Luke Gale, on the eve of the season with a ruptured achilles, were tipped to struggle but this success against a gallant Salford side epitomised all the positives of Powell’s Tigers.
Salford crossed the Pennines looking to usurp Castleford in third with victory here and, while they were beaten only by wayward goal-kicking and continue to show signs of a team capable of making the play-offs this year, the fact that Castleford led for 72 of the 80 minutes underlines why this was probably the right result.
Gale’s replacement at half-back, Jordan Rankin, has slotted into the Tigers side well, and his 12 points here were decisive. By half‑time he had scored a well-worked try and two goals to help the Tigers into a 12-4 lead, Jake Bibby scoring Salford’s only try after Nathan Massey opened the scoring.
Within seven minutes of the restart a scintillating handling move helped Greg Eden to extend Castleford’s lead to 18-8 but Salford to their credit fought back valiantly. “I’ve told the boys to believe they’re a good team,” their coach, Ian Watson, said. “We need to believe we can come to places like this and win.”
Two tries in three minutes, from Jansin Turgut and Joey Lussick – both created by the outstanding Jackson Hastings – reduced the gap to two but Castleford weathered the storm. First an inch-perfect pass from Paul McShane found Jesse Sene-Lefao, before Rankin’s penalty opened up a two-score lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Salford at least set up a grandstand finish when Bibby scored his second with seven minutes left but Castleford’s experience saw them home.
Castleford Mata’utia; Minikin, Foster, Shenton, Eden; Trueman, Rankin; Watts, McShane, Moors, Sene-Lefao, Holmes, Massey. Interchange Milner, Cook, Egodo, Clarkson.
Tries Massey, Rankin, Eden, Sene-Lefao. Goals Rankin 4.
Salford Evalds; Olpherts, Welham, Bibby, Sio; Lui, Hastings; Murray, Lussick, Dudson, Jones, Turgut, Flanagan. Interchange Walker, Nakubuwai, Tomkins, Griffin.
Tries Bibby 2, Turgut, Lussick. Goals Lussick 2.
Referee R Hicks. Attendance 7,750.
