Next stop Wolves on Tigers’ mission 
of revenge

The England centre was in prolific form as he scored four tries during last Friday’s dramatic 
36-30 win over Hull FC, the first time he has achieved such a feat in his long career.

Having emphatically been knocked out of the Challenge Cup by the Airlie Birds earlier in the season, their opening Super 8s result certainly helped atone for that setback.

Castleford, who have drawn level with Huddersfield in fourth after their rivals lost at Wigan, are at home once more when they host Warrington Wolves in front of the television cameras on Thursday night. Another win would keep them on course for the top-four for a second successive season – and potential stab at a maiden Grand Final.

Sixth-placed Warrington – who thrashed Castleford 44-6 at Wheldon Road on the final day of the regular season – have the same aim but are four points adrift of that target after a sobering 49-10 defeat at Leeds Rhinos last Friday.

Shenton admitted: “They will definitely be wanting to make up for that. But we owe Warrington one ourselves. We owed Hull one – they’ve both embarrassed us this year – and did that so it’d be a great time to make amends for our loss last time around, too.

“It was pretty pleasing to get the win against Hull but there were mistakes in there and we have to focus on improving that against Warrington as we can’t afford to continue doing that in these Super 8s games.”

Lethargic Castleford were 12-0 behind after only five minutes against a Hull side who face a huge challenge to play any part in the semi-finals.

Shenton hit back with a first-half hat-trick only for the hosts to trail once more after conceding again either side of the break.

They eventually got on top after the 29-year-old claimed his fourth try and Luke Gale also crossed, but they still switched off to let Hull get close at the end.

Shenton, who led Castleford out at Wembley 12 months ago, admitted they have to tighten up if they are going to challenge the likes of leaders Leeds Rhinos, St Helens and Wigan Warriors.

“There was just little things that frustrated us,” he said. “When we got a grip on the game, for example, and then came up with errors at their end, or gave cheap penalties to let them out and back into the contest.

“There was a point in that match where if we just knocked our sets off and went for a drop goal, with a seven-point cushion, it would have killed Hull’s spirit.

“Instead we get a decent lead and then let them get back into which is pretty disappointing. We have to learn from it.

“We don’t want to be at our best just yet but as long as we learn from Friday, that’s the main thing.

“The two points were massive and with other results going our way we had to take advantage which we did.”

Hull’s hopes of making the last four look to be over now for, even just one game into their seven fixtures, given they have since dropped to eighth after Catalans’ win over champions St Helens.

But Shenton admitted: “Credit to Hull, they were exceptional against us early on.

“To show the character we did to get back into it was great.

“The boys really dug in, our halves put the ball where it needed to be and then Justin Carney’s chase and just his energy throughout, for me, got us the win.”