In the immediate aftermath of this game it was hard not to focus on the chaos of the final 10 minutes, but in the context of the Super League season as a whole, this result kicks off a potentially decisive weekend that could end with the competition’s big issues well on their way to being sorted six weeks before the conclusion of the regular season.
Should eighth-placed Wakefield win at Huddersfield on Sunday and St Helens lose at Catalans 24 hours earlier, the Super 8s could threaten to become a nonevent before they have even started. Those results would mean that although the teams between fifth and eighth are split by only two points, the gap to the top four could be six and, similarly, the middle quartet could all be at least five points clear of the bottom four with only 10 left to play for before the split for the Super 8s.
Castleford’s own top-four hopes took a knock here where, with the exception of their dramatic late comeback in vain in the closing stages, they were second best to Widnes all evening.
Take nothing away from Widnes though, who were deserved winners. After falling down Super League at a rate of knots over the past couple of months, the Vikings have now won two of their past three following a run of eight straight defeats – and the top-eight finish that looked certain when they were top in mid-March looks relatively secure once again.
“We needed this win,” said the Widnes coach, Denis Betts. “I think we need one or two more to secure our place in the eight, but winning here means we don’t have to be relying on other teams below us to slip up and drop points.”
Castleford’s performance was littered with uncharacteristic errors, and they trailed 10-0 early on after tries from Macgraff Leuluai and Patrick Ah Van. The Tigers’ only response all half was the first of a personal hat-trick for the on-loan wing Paddy Flynn, before Widnes extended their lead further through a Chris Bridge try.
That put Widnes 16-4 up at the break and although Flynn’s second reduced the gap to six points, a spell of four tries in 13 minutes from the Vikings took the game away from the hosts. Ah Van charged over for his second before a quickfire double from the hooker Lloyd White. Then Joe Mellor scored a try that summed up Castleford’s evening, as the Tigers watched their own short kick-off bounce before the half-back collected and raced home to put the game beyond Daryl Powell’s side.
Both coaches identified that period as crucial after the game, and although Castleford threatened the most stirring of comebacks via Flynn’s hat-trick and tries from Larne Patrick and Luke Gale – the latter the standout effort of the trio with the half-back racing home following a superb Denny Solomona break from the kick-off, they had simply left themselves with too much to do after a shambolic first 70 minutes.
“It was very poor,” Powell said. “We put ourselves under so much pressure. We only looked like a team that wanted to win late on – some people need to realise how much that meant: at home against a team in and around us. It was really disappointing.”
Castleford: Solomona; Monaghan, Crooks, Webster, Flynn; McShane, Gale; Jewitt, Milner, Patrick, Moors, McMeeken, Massey. Interchange Millington, Springer, Tickle, Cook.
Tries Flynn 3, Patrick, Gale Goals Gale 4.
Widnes: Hanbury; Thompson, Runciman, Bridge, Ah Van; Mellor, Brown; Cahill, White, Buchanan, Whitley, Dean, Leuluai. Interchange Chapelhow, Manuokafoa, Walker, Heremaia.
Tries Leuluai, Ah Van 2, Bridge, White 2, Mellor. Goals Hanbury 5.
Referee J Smith (RFL) Att 4,968.
