Greg Eden continued the remarkable revival of his career when he ran in five tries as Castleford took another important step towards ending their 91-year wait to win the championship with a resounding victory over Warrington which left them six points clear at the top of Super League.
On this form the 26-year-old winger looks capable of eclipsing the 40 tries scored by Denny Solomona last season to set the competition’s record before he departed for rugby union. This was Eden’s fifth hat-trick in six games – including a Challenge Cup treble against St Helens – taking his season’s tally to 30 in 18 league games.
Castleford’s coach Daryl Powell, who recruited Eden when he was at a low point following a spell in the National Rugby League with Brisbane, said: “The people on the inside of him do an outstanding job but he’s an incredible finisher. But we were scratchy in the second half I thought, and Warrington came back at us.”
Just as Powell takes great credit over the Eden project, he equally deserves plaudits for turning the Tigers into a side who are the undisputed favourites for the Grand Final at Old Trafford in October.
In recent weeks his team have shown an essential hallmark of a championship team by winning when they are below their best. That was never more evident than against St Helens last Sunday and, while mesmerising in patches here, they were again far from perfect yet still ran out comfortable victors.
Warrington were the last side to defeat Castleford at home, in July 2016. But the chance of a repeat here was all but over by the end of a frenetic opening quarter in which the Tigers, with prop Andy Lynch playing the 500th game of his career, had opened up a commanding 20-0 lead after the Warrington captain, Chris Hill, had been sent to the sin-bin.
That early burst was typical of so many of Castleford’s victories this season where a flurry of points in a short, sharp spell have proved decisive. “It made it hard to win from there,” the Warrington coach, Tony Smith, said.
His team are now 11 points adrift of the top four and it appears their Challenge Cup quarter-final against Wigan on Saturday may well be season-defining. However, there is still the possibility of last season’s beaten grand finalists facing a battle against relegation in the Qualifiers. To illustrate the gulf in class between these two sides, Eden’s five tries here were one fewer than the six Warrington have managed in their past four games combined.
The early signs were ominous for Warrington when they fell behind after three minutes as Luke Gale’s kick was claimed by Eden for the first of his haul. Hill’s yellow card proved a pivotal moment, as in his absence Castleford took control of the match with tries from Eden, Greg Minikin and Mike McMeeken.
Tom Lineham’s try shortly after Hill’s return reduced the deficit, although only temporarily, with normal service quickly resumed when Eden completed a hat-trick following a looping pass from Junior Moors – whose knee injury was the only blot on another successful afternoon for the league leaders.
The second half was much more closely fought and Warrington managed to score the game’s final two tries through Joe Westerman and Jack Hughes, but by that stage far too much damage had already been done to their cause.
Eden scored his fourth and fifth tries and, for a brief moment, it looked like he would become only the second player in Super League history after the Bradford great Lesley Vainikolo to score six in a game. That was not to be but, on this evidence, there are still plenty more to come from him this season.
Castleford Hardaker; Minikin, Monaghan, Shenton, Eden; Roberts, Gale; Lynch, McShane, Millington, Sene-Lefao, McMeeken, Massey. Interchange Milner, Moors, Holmes, Foster.
Tries Eden 5, Minikin, McMeeken. Goals Gale 4.
Warrington Dagger; Penny, Ratchford, Blythe, Lineham; Patton, Westerman; Hill, Clark, Sims, Jullien, Hughes, Cooper. Interchange Dwyer, King, Savelio, Philbin.
Tries Lineham, Westerman, Hughes. Goals Patton 2.
Referee J Child. Attendance 8,577.
