St Helens romp to 10-try victory at Castleford

Betfred Super League

Castleford Tigers (4) 4

Tries: Senior

St Helens (8) 60

Tries: Blake 3, Welsby 2, Bell 2, Mata'utia, Lomax, Percival, Dodd Goals: Percival 7

St Helens stormed back to the top of Super League as they ran in 11 tries - nine of them unanswered after the break - to batter Castleford on home soil.

In a game of two red cards - Saints winger Tommy Makinson, then Cas forward Liam Horne - it was the second of them that tilted the game as the hosts lost their man advantage and Saints ran amok.

Winger Waqa Blake led the way with three tries, Jack Welsby and James Bell both crossed twice, while Sione Mata'utia, Jonny Lomax, Mark Percival, who kicked seven goals, and Lewis Dodd all scored tries too.

And, on a night when they lost Tex Hoy and Alex Mellor, who both failed head injury assessments, the hosts' only try came from Louis Senior.

It was a lively opening at the Jungle as Saints went a try up through Mata’utia only to go a man down when Makinson was sent off in the 13th minute for his late hit on Cas full-back Hoy.

With only 12 men, Saints were not too handicapped and extended their lead through Lomax's try - again unconverted by Percival.

Cas did get back in it right on half-time when Louis Senior went over in the corner. But Rowan Milnes' conversion hit the post.

And, instead of closing to within two points, when the game restarted, Cas found themselves ten points down when Welsby galloped in to score and Percival this time found his range from the tee.

Worse was to follow for the hosts when Horne became the second red card of the night for a tip tackle on Bell - and Percival added two more points with a penalty.

But being back on level terms in terms of numbers had a disastrous effect on Cas as they caved in by conceding three more tries in four minutes - from Percival himself, Blake and Bell.

And, from then, it was not a case of how, but how many.

In the end, five more tries followed as Blake added two more, Bell and Welsby crossed again and Dodd got on the scoresheet too.

All more than enough to improve their points difference sufficiently to overtake Warrington as leaders.

Saints had Tommy Makinson sent off after just 14 minutes for a late tackle on Tex Hoy and had reached the interval just 8-4 in front.

But they capitalised on a calamitous second-half display by the hosts, who had Liam Horne red-carded for a tip tackle, with Waqa Blake soaring over for a hat-trick and James Bell and Jack Welsby grabbing a brace each.

The only Saints setback was what looked a "serious" first-half injury to back-row forward Jake Wingfield, who was helped from the pitch clutching his shoulder.

Castleford head coach Craig Lingard;

"That's as poor a second half as you could possibly get. It was almost like they accepted they would get beaten and they stopped.

"We showed an immense amount of naivety when Saints went down to 12. We didn't manage the game at all. We just kept fuelling them with mistake after mistake.

"It's a massive step back from where we've been the last two or three weeks. We knew all along it's not going to be smooth, but there's no excuse for that.

"To dish that up at home is a massive leap back. We've got to apologise to the fans and I'll take the flak for it. To concede 52 points in the second half is completely unacceptable."

St Helens coach Paul Wellens:

"The response and the resilience we showed during the period when we were down a man was probably the reason we scored so many points at the back end.

"We were incredible in the way we handled it We kept things really simple and, off the back of that, our halves were instrumental in opening them up.

"We have to accept that with the way the game's going there have been significant changes. But is it direct contact with the head by Tommy Makinson? It's inconclusive, so it should have been a yellow.

"Jake Wingfield has had a fair bit of problems with his shoulders and it doesn't look good. I know how devastated he is in the changing room, and I'm heartbroken for him. It looks like a serious injury and we'll give him the necessary support."

Castleford Tigers: Hoy; L Senior, C Hall, Wood, I Senior; Milnes, Miller; Watts, McShane, Westerman, Mellor, El-Zakhem. Hill.

Interchanges: Horne, Griffin, Robb, Eseh.

Sent off: Horne (48)

St Helens: Welsby; Makinson, Hurrell, Percival, Blake; Lomax, Dodd; Mata'utia, Clark, Lees, Sironen, Batchelor, Bell.

Interchanges: Mbye, Wingfield, Delaney, Stephens.

Sent off: Makinson (13)

Referee: Jack Smith.