In-form Warrington comfortably see off Castleford
Betfred Super League
Castleford (0) 6
Tries: Hooley Goals: Hooley
Warrington (8) 28
Tries: Taylor-Wray, Bateman, Nicholson, Ashton, Thewlis Goals: Thewlis 4
In-form Warrington Wolves secured an eighth win in nine Super League matches after seeing off Castleford Tigers.
Initially, Wolves lacked the rhythm which was evident in their dominant win over Leeds Rhinos six days ago and in the 14th minute Luke Yates was sent to the sin-bin following a high tackle on Castleford's Liam Watts.
Cas failed to capitalize on their one-man man advantage, however, and with Warrington back to 13 men, teenager Cai Taylor-Wray broke through the Tigers defence to score a wonderful solo effort in the corner.
John Bateman, Matty Nicholson, Matty Ashton and Josh Thewlis also ran in for the Wire, with Luke Hooley's try a mere consolation for the hosts.
A lengthy TMO review confirmed that Taylor-Wray managed to get the ball down on the Cas line, with Thewlis adding the extra two points with a superb kick from the right touchline.
Another Thewlis penalty before the buzzer opened an eight point lead for the visitors, who welcomed home their head coach Sam Burgess following his induction into the NRL Hall of Fame in Sydney.
Five minutes into the second half and Bateman comfortably dotted down after collecting a pass from scrum-half Josh Drinkwater to score his first try of the season having joined the Wire on loan.
The hosts did not let their heads drop, however, and Hooley converted his own try with less than half an hour to go to cut the arrears again to eight points.
That was as good as it got for the Tigers though as Nicholson dived over with only 15 minutes left to help secure victory for the Wire.
Leading up to Warrington's crucial third try, Tigers fans were left feeling aggrieved when second-row Elie El-Zakhem was controversially judged to have fouled try-scorer Nicholson by referee Tom Grant deep in the visitors' half.
Ashton finished off the move of the match by crashing over in the corner for his 20th try of the season in all competitions after George Williams' stunning off-load with just seven minutes left.
Winger Thewlis added gloss to the final score with the fifth and final try late on in an impressive Wolves display which puts them level on points with leaders Hull KR and Wigan Warriors at the top of the Super League table.
Castleford: Hoy, Qareqare, Hooley, Tate, Senior, Windley, Miller, Watts, Horne, Westerman, El-Zakhem, Mellor, Hill
Interchanges: Mcshane, Namo, Johnson, Hindmarsh
Warrington: Taylor-Wray, Thewlis, King, Tai, Ashton, Williams, Drinkwater, Yates, Powell, Vaughan, Nicholson, Bateman, Currie
Interchanges: Musgrove, Walker, Harrison, Crowther
Sin-bin: Yates (14).
Referee: Tom Grant.