Castleford Tigers 42 Wakefield Trinity 24: In-form Trinity stopped in tracks by rampant leaders

Derby rivals Wakefield Trinity arrived at Wheldon Road with genuine hopes of halting the rampant Super League leaders.

But down 36-12 at the break it soon became clear they, like so many before them this season, simply had no answer for Castleford’s potent mix of pace and power.

Trinity had won five of their last six games but had not yet come across opponents as formidable as Daryl Powell’s table-toppers.

With Benny Roberts and Luke Gale running the show at half-back, and Grant Millington and Jake Webster both grabbing try-doubles, Tigers head into Easter Monday’s trip to St Helens in buoyant mood.

It was their sixth successive win over Wakefield and each time they have scored more than 40 points.

Andy Lynch, meanwhile, made his 440th Super League appearance to move clear in second in the all-time list with only Kevin Sinfield (454) above him.

Wakefield actually took the lead inside three minutes but very little else went right for them.

They had seen Bill Tupou taken off for a concussion test after just 90 seconds following a high tackle from Roberts.

When Castleford allowed Williams’ high kick to bounce, though, it fell to David Fifita and there was never going to be any chance of stopping the giant prop from 15m out.

Sam Williams converted but Tigers capitalised while centre Tupou was being assessed, scoring twice down the Australian’s left edge.

Roberts produced a lovely runaround with Mike McMeeken before accelerating over from 20m out and – after Scott Grix’s restart sailed dead - it was the gifted stand-off’s ‘no-look’ flat pass that sent Webster surging through for his first.

After Luke Gale’s 40/20, Trinity’s defence close to their line disintegrated once more as the England scrum-half slipped Oli Holmes through who proved too strong for Williams.

Gale slotted the third of his seven conversions and his side went up another gear with the arrival of thunderous props Jesse Sene-Lefao and Junior Moors off the bench.

The NRL recruits were punishing up the middle, busting tackles and making offloads at will.

Moors sucked in defenders for Millington to shrug off more feeble tackling for his first in the 27th minute.

Soon after, Tupou pinched a high Williams kick from in front of Zak Hardaker’s nose to offer Trinity hope, Williams improving again, but it proved only brief respite from the onslaught.

Millington stepped over for his second after a lovely inside ball from Gale exposed confused defence once more and it was the England scrum-half who dummied his way through in the next set to send Webster in again, converting his own score for a 36-12 interval lead.

Fifita scored his second in the 54th minute as Wakefield halted the slide slightly and the hosts eased off but smart handling soon saw Super League’s leading tryscorer Greg Eden go over for his 12th of the year.

There was still time for Trinity winger Ben Jones-Bishop to dive over with a one-handed finish that Liam Finn improved but his side, who host Wigan on Monday, were well beaten here.

Castleford Tigers: Hardaker; Monaghan, Webster, Minikin, Eden; Roberts, Gale; Lynch, McShane, Springer, Holmes, McMeeken, Milner. Substitutes: Chase, Sene-Lefao, Moors, Millington.

Wakefield Trinity: Grix; Jones-Bishop, Arundel, Tupou, Johnstone; Miller, Williams; Fifita, Wood, Allgood, Ashurst, Kirmond, Arona. Substitutes: Finn, Hadley, Huby, England.

Referee: Chris Kendall.

Attendance: 10,349.