The Castleford coach, Daryl Powell, is likely to become the latest coach to incur a fine from the Rugby Football League after branding Ben Thaler’s refereeing performance during his side’s 33-26 defeat by Wigan “unacceptable”. If Super League persists with its controversial Thursday night slot in the coming years, perhaps it should consider striking a deal to play every game in Castleford after another thriller here.
Games in this part of West Yorkshire are never dull and, while the spotlight is usually on the action concerning the players, most of the attention after the match here fell on Thaler after Powell’s extraordinary dressing-down of the official regarded by many as Super League’s best.
In a game lasting more than two hours with numerous video referee referrals, Powell was highly critical of Thaler – who was dropped following an earlier match refereeing Castleford this season – for his failure to communicate with the players in the appropriate fashion.
Powell said: “He got dropped after he refereed us in Catalans; if I dropped a player as many times I’d be getting rid of him at the end of the year. The way he’s talking to players is unacceptable – every single one of my players is saying that, some of whom have a decent relationship with him, too. I’ll cop a fine and I don’t care. There seems to be an issue there with him.”
Powell’s side came up narrowly short in a game that, away from the controversy involving Thaler, was a fine spectacle between two of the competition’s in-form sides. Wigan just about had enough throughout to repel numerous second-half fightbacks from the Tigers, eventually prevailing to move level on points with Hull FC at the top of the table before the rest of this weekend’s fixtures.
“I’m not being arrogant here but we’re playing at about four or five out of 10 at the moment,” said the Wigan coach, Shaun Wane. “There’s miles of improvement left in us. We’re halfway through the year now and we’ve just got our halves back playing together, and both Matty [Smith] and George [Williams] were very good for us.”
Smith’s game-management was one of the key factors which split the sides on the night, with the scrum-half’s kicking game pivotal for Wigan throughout. Tries for Josh Charnley and a first back in Wigan colours for Sam Tomkins, coupled with three successful kicks from Smith, nudged the Warriors into a 14-12 lead at the break. But it was events after the hooter which sparked the first of several controversial moments on the night.
A Wigan defender appeared to be offside when collecting the ball after a Luke Gale kick but, instead of awarding a penalty, Thaler blew for half-time. Much to the chagrin of the home fans, Thaler would ignore the protests from the Castleford players but not before showing a yellow card to the their centre Jake Webster for dissent. “It was a poor call – there was clearly an offside there – but it was poor by Jake,” Powell later conceded.
Wigan would punish their opponents during the 10-minute spell after the break with a man advantage, as Dom Manfredi crossed to extend their lead. Castleford hit back with a fine try from Webster just after a penalty goal from Gale, but Wigan always seemed to have the hosts at arm’s length.
Charnley’s second was followed by another moment that irked the home fans, as Sam Powell stabbed on and touched down with most of the Castleford defence assuming Thaler would blow for a knock-on. Denny Solomona’s second gave Powell’s side faint hope of a fourth successive win but a drop goal from Smith five minutes from time secured a crucial victory for the Warriors – who are joint-top of the table despite being nowhere near their best in the eyes of their head coach.
Castleford Dorn; Flynn, Crooks, Webster, Solomona; McShane, Gale; Millington, Milner, Patrick, McMeeken, Moors, Jewitt. Interchange Hampshire, Cook, Springer, Tickle.
Tries McShane, Solomona 2, Webster. Goals Gale 5. Sin bin Webster (40).
Wigan S Tomkins; Manfredi, Sarginson, Gildart, Charnley; Williams, Smith; Crosby, Powell, Flower, Bateman, Isa, J Tomkins. Interchange Mossop, Tautai, Sutton, Burke.
Tries Charnley 2, S Tomkins, Manfredi, Powell. Goals Smith 6. Drop goal Smith .
Referee B Thaler (RFL). Att 5,558.
