Tigers tamed by the Warriors
Warriors survived Tigers comeback at the Jungle
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Sunday, 23, Aug 2009 08:54
Wigan Warriors survived a Castleford Tigers fight back to pick up a narrow 29-26 victory at the Jungle.
A Kirk Dixon inspired comeback in the second half wasn't enough for the Tigers to beat a determined Warriors outfit.
It was Wigan's Sam Tomkins who finally opening the scoring in the 11th minute as he picked up on a loose ball and ran in from 40 metres, Pat Richards missing the conversion.
Both sides then had tries ruled out with Tigers' Dixon adjudged to have put a boot in touch and Wigan's Thomas Leuluai throwing a forward pass with the Tigers' try line at his mercy.
Both men made up for their errors soon after. Leuluai barged over from close range, before Dixon rose highest to gather a Brent Sherwin cross field kick to touch down in the corner.
Richards added the extras for the Warriors but Joe Westerman struck the post with his attempt to leave the score 10-4.
Tigers' Brett Ferres and Warriors' Tomkins traded tries in the last ten minutes of the half with Westerman again being thwarted by the woodwork with his conversion attempt and Richards having no such trouble.
Wigan led 16-8 at the interval.
Leuluai put Wigan well in control with his second and Wigan's fourth six minutes after the break, to seemingly put the game out of Castleford's reach, Richards slotted the extra two.
But the Tigers came roaring back with Dixon leading the charge. The winger towered above the Wigan defence from a cross field kick, offloading to Dean Widders to touchdown.
Dixon himself then crossed the whitewash for his second try of the contest, Dixon and Westerman converting the tries respectively.
Westerman slotted a penalty from 20 metres out to bring the scores level at 22-22, the Tigers looking the most likely to snatch the win with 15 minutes to go.
However, not to be outdone by Dixon's heroics Tomkins completed his hat-trick to put the Warriors back in front, bursting through a weary Tigers' backline. Richards turned four into six.
A Tomkins' drop-goal killed the game off as the Warriors refused to relinquish their lead for a second time.
A late consolation from Michael Shenton wasn't enough to stop Wigan picking up the two points and moving ahead of Wakefield in the Super League table.
In the days other fixture Bradford Bulls were 42-18 winners over the Catalan Dragons, running in eight tries in the process.
Leeds Rhinos went five better than their Yorkshire rivals Bradford on Saturday evening by crossing for thirteen tries in a 68-0 thrashing of the Celtic Crusaders in Newport.
Tom Powell