Saints Handed Cup Defeat

Saints crashed out of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup with a 53-10 defeat at Castleford.

The Tigers ran in ten tries to progress to the next round after dominating the contest throughout.

They got off to the best possible start when Michael Shenton dummied his way over after just three minutes.

Seven minutes later Jake Webster increased the advantage when he took a line ball to go to the right of the sticks for 10-0.

Saints then weathered more Castleford pressure and had the video referee to thank when Grant Millington was adjudged to have stripped the ball from Mark Percival – after he caught it and put down.

But the visitors then fought their way back into it.

On the last Matty Smith put in an inch perfect crossfield kick which Ryan Morgan plucked out of mid-air and put down.

At 10-4 it was game on and Saints thought they had scored on 23 minutes when Zeb Taia went over on the far side.

Mark Percival had done the hard yards getting them up the field – before the back rower looked to have touched down.

But it was chalked off – even though the ball was clearly over the line.

Saints had their tails up and continued to pile on the pressure.

Strong Luke Thompson runs got them close twice whilst Percival and Taia each found gaps in the Tigers’ line.

But they couldn’t punch it in and on 33 minutes Cas went right up the other end of the field and scored through Jake Webster.

Seconds later they broke from within their own half and although the defence did a good job on Greg Eden, they couldn’t stop McShane going over on the last.

And their third try in five minutes came when a simple break down the middle saw Luke Gale chip it into the corner for Minikin to pounce.

Gale added a drop goal as the half ended – and as the hooter sounded Nathan Massey stretched over to compound a dominant display.

Greg Eden tagged on another Castleford try early in the second half before Adam Swift made a wonder tackle on Tom Holmes – coming from the other side of the field to keep his line intact.

Eden scored again on 50 minutes and completed his hat-trick just past the hour mark.

Regan Grace had one chalked off for a forward pass as the game entered the final ten minutes before Greg Minikin went the length of the field.

Luke Douglas adding a late one with five minutes to go.

Match Summary:

Tigers:

Tries: Shenton, Webster (2), McShane, Minikin (2), Massey, Eden (3)

Goals: Gale (5 from 10)

Drop: Gale

Saints:

Tries: Morgan, Douglas

Goals: Percival (1 from 2)

Penalties Awarded:

Tigers: 4

Saints: 10

HT: 31-4

FT: 53-10

REF: Phil Bentham

ATT: 5,216

Teams:

Tigers:

1. Zak Hardaker; 2. Greg Minikin, 3. Jake Webster, 4. Michael Shenton, 5. Greg Eden; 23. Tom Holmes, 7. Luke Gale; 8. Andy Lynch, 9. Paul McShane, 10. Grant Millington, 15. Jesse Sene-Lefao, 12. Mike McMeeken, 13. Adam Milner.

Subs: 14. Nathan Massey, 16. Ben Roberts, 17. Junior Moors, 18. Matt Cook.

Saints:

2. Tommy Makinson; 5. Adam Swift, 4. Mark Percival, 3. Ryan Morgan, 28. Regan Grace; 6. Theo Fages, 7. Matty Smith; 8. Alex Walmsley, 9. James Roby, 14. Luke Douglas, 36. Zeb Taia, 20. Morgan Knowles, 16. Luke Thompson.

Subs: 10. Kyle Amor, 12. Jon Wilkin, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 19. Greg Richards.

Challenge Cup RD6: Cas v Saints

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