Castleford silenced by two-try Mathers on return

After classy scrum-half Tim Smith tore derby rivals Castleford Tigers to pieces yesterday, it is a shame to think their improving football may have come a little too late.

This was a third successive victory which leaves them just three points away from the top eight with four games remaining.

It will perhaps be too big a chasm to fill but coach Richard Agar was rightly delighted by his side’s excellent display.

“We have had three good weeks and to back up after Monday’s performance against Leeds was terrific,” he said.

“I thought right from the word go we were very strong and dominant.

“I’m real happy with the way the team is performing; we’ve shown over the last three weeks we’ve really got some quality football in us.”

Smith was to the fore, scoring one fine solo try and creating four others with his sublime handling and kicking ability.

Depleted Castleford had no answer to the Australian’s trickery while Richard Mathers, sent to Trinity on a season-long loan by Tigers coach Ian Millward, enjoyed his first return by scoring two tries to silence some unnecessary booing.

Agar admitted: “I thought Tim Smith was very dominant and very strong.

“He pulls the strings for us and is in very good form.

“Everyone else has learned very quickly how to play off him.

“Scrum-halves are at a premium and really hard to find. Perhaps in some people’s eyes we took a punt on him but I thought he was a master class at times today. He looked every inch the quality player he is.”

Given their dominance of the first half, Wakefield should have established a far bigger lead than the 16-0 advantage they took into the interval.

However, it mattered little as, once Dean Collis strode over early in the second period, their poor hosts were never likely to mount any sort of fightback.

Ben Cockayne burrowed over from dummy half in the 11th minute after Lee Smith had been halted just short and, soon after, full-back Mathers – on his 200th Super League appearance – arced through off one of Tim Smith’s fine passes to silence those fans who had jeered his every touch.

However, as the meek hosts made error after error, including a succession of frustrating forward passes in their own half, Trinity failed to make the most of the glut of possession that came their way.

Tim Smith forced a second drop-out but, after the first rolled into touch after a wicked bounce eluded Danny Kirmond, this time Lee Smith was denied by some spirited defence.

Paul Sykes produced a mighty 40/20 only for Tim Smith to slide a pass forward and, after Frankie Mariano was the latest Wakefield player to be held up, second-row Kirmond somehow found himself grubbering forward in another poor finish to the set.

It was not until the 34th minute, after Stuart Jones was deemed to have passed forward on his own 40m line, that the visitors secured their third try.

Tim Smith dummied and sliced through to catch the Tigers defence dozing before stretching over and Sykes added his third conversion.

Jake Emmitt felled Kirmond with a high tackle straight from the restart to further annoy Millward and Craig Huby, who later departed with an arm injury, had to desperately cling on to Tim Smith after he almost reproduced the same score.

This time the ex-Cronulla star was held up but he then ran behind his own man searching for the next gap to let Castleford off the hook once more.

Ineffective Tigers, meanwhile, barely had an attack of any real note until some late pressure after Collis’s dangerous spear-style tackle on Jones stirred up emotions.

However, the visitors’ defence stood firm, Collis shooting up to pull down Jones and then Cockayne doing likewise to snuff out Richard Owen.

It was the Australian centre Collis who scored early in the second half after a strong Cockayne break and more good work from Tim Smith and Kirmond. They should have added another when Tim Smith’s pass put his namesake through on the left but the ex-Leeds Rhinos player messed up his final ball to Kyle Amor.

Kirmond got a deserved score though after he arrowed onto another perfect Tim Smith assist down the opposite flank as Castleford’s defence fell apart all too easily. There was no one in sight when the scrum-half then produced a kick for Lee Smith to collect and dive between the posts.

Castleford, with their first real attack of the half, managed to avoid the embarrassment of a whitewash when prop Paul Jackson rumbled over following a well-worked ruck move on the hour, Danny Orr converting.

They nearly added another when they finally found some cohesion with the ball but Ali Lauitiiti showed great desire to scramble across and barge Rhys Williams into touch.

Having switched to full-back due to Owen’s injury, Nick Youngquest did cruise over when he sprinted on to Orr’s inside pass but, fittingly, it was Mathers who had the last say, going through another gaping hole to grab his second in front of the Trinity fans.

Castleford Tigers: Owen; Youngquest, Griffin, Thompson, Williams; Orr, Milner; Jackson, Hudson, Huby, Millington, Snitch, Emmitt. Substitutes: Jones, Mitchell, Massey, Ellis.

Wakefield Trinity: Mathers; Fox, Collis, L Smith, Cockayne; Sykes, T Smith; Amor, Ellis, Raleigh, Lauitiiti, Kirmond, Washbrook. Substitutes: Wood, Mariano, Johnson, James.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield).