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06 September 2008 | 18:00 KO
Date confirmed - This is not a televised fixture.
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Tigers Fightback Ends Cullen Reign
Report written by Daniel Kemp
Warrington: 28
Tries: V Anderson, Riley (2), Penny, Hicks
Goals: Hicks (4)
Castleford: 36
Tries: Owen, Shenton, Fletcher, Wainwright, Dorn (2), Donlan
Goals: Westerman (3) Huby
The Castleford tigers scored 3 tries in 5 minutes to pull off there first away SL win of the season. Castleford tigers were without Brent Sherwin, who failed a late fitness test and also Matt Cook who was recalled by Bradford from his loan deal. They were able to welcome back Peter Lupton into the second row and young prop Ryan Boyle was recalled to the bench.
The tigers started the game brightly, Mcgoldrick who was once again great at stand off, shifted the ball out to Bradford Bulls target Shenton who made a clean break before been stopped by Hicks. From the resulting play the ball smart shifting of play sent Shenton back down the blind side but he was stopped by desperate Warrington defence, But this was a warning of the fluent rugby Castleford can play.
It was only 1 minute later that the Warrington defence was exposed again, A neat kick from Mcgoldrick, was caught by Lupton who dropped the ball before he could place it on the ground, The Video referee rightly ruled the try out but the tigers could have been 2 scores up inside 4 minutes and Warrington had to wake up before this game was gone.
This didn’t happen – The resulting play led to 3 tigers defenders dragging Anderson into touch in his own 30 metre zone and the tigers had a great attacking position again. Shenton was denied again down the blind side but a good link up from Guttenbeil, Dorn and Donlan led to Richard Owen having an easy run to the line. This was the famous Castleford “move” that ripped St Helens, Leeds and Warrington apart at the Jungle. Westerman missed the resulting conversion but the tigers had an early lead, that pleased the travelling tigers fans, the few who had made it due to the match situation.
After another 5 minutes or so had passed with good tigers defence holding Warrington, Mcgoldrick put up a sliced kick on the last which Fletcher caught and then Kevin Penny stupidly ripped the ball in a two on one situation giving the tigers a penalty on the last tackle, this was the last thing Cullen wanted to see. More flowing tigers attack came and Guttenbeil and Dorn went close before Scott Moore ran the powerplay but was denied by good Warrington defence. Castleford coach Terry Matterson will not have been happy his side let the pressure off Warrington by conceding a stupid penalty. And after the tigers had another set, The tigers conceded another penalty through Peter Lupton which once again gifted Warrington possession in the tigers half, This will once again be a worry for the tigers coach as they conceded far too many penalties.
Another Warrington penalty for offside down the tigers right gifted the wolves another 6 tackles and a great ball from Briers gave Chris Riley a chance on the wing and only fantastic defence from the tigers kept him out. The tigers made a clean break through Donlan after he supported an offload and this gave the tigers great field position. Guttenbeil took a drive in and drew in 4 Wolves defenders and then the tigers switched the play. Mcgoldrick fed Moore with a dubious pass who then threw the ball out to Donlan who patted the ball up for Mcgoldrick who fed Shenton to go in to the corner for a well deserved try. This was fantastic handling and shows Castlefords ability to score points against any side. Joe Westerman goaled the conversion to give the tigers a 10-0 lead after 19 minutes and the Boo’s were ringing out for Paul Cullen.
The tigers went close again before the tremendous Guttenbeil dropped the ball under pressure from three defenders and then another penalty once again from Peter Lupton gave the Wolves great field position, Briers went close before the tigers knocked on trying to gather the ball after a sloppy play the ball. It wasn’t long before the Wolves were on the board, a simple ball swing out to Vinnie Anderson who straightened up and palmed Scott Moore off as though he wasn’t there before charging his way over the line. The soft defence is again a worry for the tigers and they will have been hoping not to let Warrington score another easy try again. Chris Hicks goaled and that brought the score to 10-6.
Another strong run from Vinnie Anderson got Warrington on the front foot and when Lee Briers collected the ball he saw Wainright was yards out of position and he put a neat kick in behind the tigers defence, Riley was first to the ball but Luke Dorn got back and looked as though he had saved a try, But Rileys determination prevailed as he shrugged off Dorn and dived over in the corner. Chris Hicks hit the post with the conversion attempt and the lead the tigers had worked hard for 20 minutes to establish was once again chalked off within 4 minutes, a similar story to last week for the tigers. 10-10 and its game on again and suddenly the Boo’s had stopped from the home supporters.
Both sides had then conceded silly penalties and blown chances, Mcgoldrick fed Shenton who was unable to take the pass with the line at his mercy, Then smart thinking from Lee Briers who took a quick tap from the penalty to run 60 metres before been stopped by Donlan. A few plays late the wolves broke the line and had Martin Gleeson been able to take the offload Warrington would have been in front for the first time, but this wasn’t to be and the scores remained level.
A silly Warrington pass once again gave the tigers field position and more attractive attack led to Westerman almost making it to the line and from the resulting play the ball they attacked down the blind side, Mcgoldrick fed Shenton and the star centre managed to free his arms and allow Fletcher an easy score in the corner. Westerman failed to convert from the touchline but the tigers were to go in with a 14-10 lead, and it would all be about could they hang on to this in the second half as the wolves were certain to start strong.
Warrington did just this, a smart cross field kick from Briers was almost collected by Vinnie Anderson, who was just beaten to the ball by full back Stuart Donlan who patted the ball back to Fletcher who was stopped in his own in goal, From the resulting set of 6, Warrington attacked down there right only for the power play to end up in the arms of Peter Lupton to relieve the pressure on the tigers.
Another tigers penalty led to captain Awen Guttenbeil been warned that Ned Catic was constantly infringing, and from the resulting penalty, good hands wide led to Chris Riley having a free run down the touchline as once again Wainright was drawn in to the tackle as Chris Hicks chimed into the line. Chris Hicks then goaled to give the wolves the lead for the first time in the night, and they would hope to kick on from this. Warrington Wolves 16 – 14 Castleford Tigers.
The tigers almost hit back immediately, a wide ball out to Westerman who ran down the right channel for 40 yards before feeding the ball inside to the impressive Luke Dorn who stepped inside only to be stopped by the try scorer Chris Riley, the tigers failed to capitalise as Shenton’s grubber went dead in goal.
Another Tigers penalty gave Briers the chance to kick a 60 yard penalty and then Catic was penalised again for offside and was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes, This was almost turned into a Red Card after he said something out of turn to referee Ian Smith, and Ryan Mcgoldrick was also lucky not to follow him after using his mouth out of turn.
The tigers would have to try and hold out here, but as Warrington pushed forward the tigers were penalised again for offside, this time it was Mcgoldrick who was clearly a yard offside and this wont have pleased his coach Terry Matterson. The tigers had now conceded 3 penalties on the bounce and they were unable to hold out for any longer down to 12 men. Michael Monaghan collected the ball and fed a long ball out to the flyer Kevin Penny who had an easy run to the line. Chris Hicks goaled from wide out, and this game was slipping away from the tigers and Paul Cullen was feeling slightly better.
A dubious decision from referee Ian Smith after a Monaghan kick as Donlan collected the ball and was bundled behind his own line by Matt King but he escaped into the field of play, The referee adjudged that Donlan had grounded the ball although the player made no attempt to and this decision baffled Stuart Donlan and the tigers fans as it should have been play on. This gave Warrington the chance to put the game to bed, and when Briers broke 2 tackles he offloaded but this was knocked back by Scott Moore into the arms of Donlan who was unable to take it and the ball fell between the posts for Chris hicks who scored a simple try and converted it, and at 28-14 the game was almost behind the tigers now. All this came while Ned Catic was in the sin bin and the tigers were desperate to get him back out on the field. Until his first act when he returned to the field was to get penalised for holding down the wolves player.
Warrington looked to have scored the try to seal the game, Mcgoldrick passed inside to Catic who knocked the ball on, which hit the arm of Simon Grix who was going for the tackle and he gathered the ball and ran 50 metres to score. This should have been awarded as he made no intention to play the ball but the try was ruled out for the Catic knock on and Warrington given head and feed at the scrum, This may prove to be a turning point in the game.
The tigers seemed to lift the pace again, quick play the balls and attacks down the tigers left and then the cross field kick was caught by Shenton who put the grubber through as it was the final tackle and Aussie Superstar King dropped the simple grubber to give the tigers head and feed of the scrum 10 metres out from the Wolves line and with 12 minutes to go, They weren’t out of this one yet.
A simple play from the scrum gave the tigers the score they so dearly needed, Mcgoldrick fed Dorn who ran across the field before sending a long looping ball over the top of Briers who went for the intercept and Wainright was able to get in at the corner. Westerman was again unable to convert another difficult conversion attempt but the tigers were back in this 28-18. Ryan Boyle was introduced to the field, much to the delight of the tigers fans who have been calling for his return to the first team for weeks and he took the first drive from the kick off, a strong run to keep the momentum with the tigers. A good run from Scott Moore from dummy half got the tigers moving and then Mcgoldrick collected the ball down the blindside and he dummied his way clean through the soft defence and Luke Dorn supported on the inside to go under the posts. Westerman converted the simple conversion and it was 28-24, 2 tries in 3 minutes for the Tigers.
The momentum was still with Castleford, this time the ball was coming down the left and when the tigers ran the ball on the last tackle, Mcgoldrick swung a wide ball out to Shenton, who stepped Matt King to break through again, he fed Westerman who was stood up by Hicks who couldn’t stop the inevitable as Stuart Donlan supported the play for another clean run to the line, Craig Huby stood up to take the pressure conversion and when that went over the tigers had regained a well deserved lead, 30-28. The Warrington fans were not happy, the boo’s were ringing out and the chants of “we want cullen out” were ringing out, very similar to those at the tigers the week before.
As the Tigers pressed again through the lively Boyle, the fans turned there attentions to “we want our money back”, obviously not happen with how things are going at there club. The Warrington defence held out though and they could try and launch an attack themselves, and when Lee Briers kicked the 40-20, it seemed Warrington were going to rob the tigers for the second time this season.
As Warrington pressed the swung the ball right and there hopes were dashed when the outstanding Luke Dorn burst onto the intercept and ran 95 metres to score under the posts and secure a valuable tigers victory. The home fans continued there pressure on Cullen, who knew it was all over for him and the tigers coach could smile again for the first time in a long time. Westerman took over the kicking again for the simple conversion 36 – 28 to Castleford, The Warrington fans, players and coach knew the game was over, the disappointment was voiced both at full time and in the after-match protest.
The tigers fully deserved this though, They attacked like a team playing with so much confidence which was hard to believe to say they were rock bottom, under so much pressure from there own fans and missing there influential half back but the combination between Mcgoldrick and Dorn worked well, the forwards stood up to the cause with Guttenbeil putting in a much improved performance, and the back were fantastic, Shenton especially who proved why side like Bradford, Hull and Leeds are sniffing about him, Richard Owen filled in the centres very well and Stuart Donlan was impressive again at full back. Its up to the tigers to build on this though, they have a week off now to work on there defence and Discipline before the home derby with bogey team Wakefield.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008