WOLVES paid a price for losing concentration midway through the first half of Friday's defeat against Castleford Tigers.

From switching off at a quick 20-metre tap to sloppy work from a kick restart, Tony Smith's lacklustre side were punished to the tune of four tries in eight minutes to fall 22-6 behind.

Credit to barnstorming efforts from Andre Savelio, Joe Westerman and Tom Lineham that The Wire clawed back to 26-22 at one stage, but Tigers managed to keep The Wire at arm's length.

The way Wolves folded between the 19th and 27th minutes rivalled the whirlwind Wolves inflicted on Brisbane six days earlier.

Until then, the hosts were in charge without making their superiority count beyond Savelio's first home try in primrose and blue.

Then came all the drama.

Westerman leapt high to collect a bouncing grubber from Dec Patton but ran out of room to plant the ball, though Gale should have been penalised for tackling his opponent in the air.

Then Gale's fast 20-metre restart caught some Wire players napping and put them on the back foot for the rest of a match-changing set that saw the introduction of Junior Moors off the Cas bench.

On the back of Moors' first charge, Tigers created a seven-on-four overlap as Gale slipped Jesse Sene-Lefao over.

Mike McMeeken's change of direction then left acting skipper Jack Hughes and Westerman in a tangle and Ashton Sims was found wanting for cover as the second rower tore away to put Zak Hardaker away.

Winger Matty Russell then had two minutes he will want to forget, first dropping Gale's high kick, then giving Eden too much room on the outside to enable the former Brisbane man to dive in at the corner before being late in the chase from the restart, inviting adventurous Cas play in front of their sticks as Hardaker shrugged off Evans' attempted tackle and sent Gale home from 30 metres.

Lineham's plunge from dummy half gave Wolves a lifeline at the end of the half and although excellent second efforts from the winger and Savelio got The Wire back within striking range, they were still off their game in other areas and there were responses from Greg Minikin and Eden to seal top spot for Cas at this early stage.

INTERESTING NOTES:

. Livett's conversion marks his first points in Super League
. 350th career appearance for Brown
. Lineham's tally rises to six tries in last six games
. Last time Wolves opened a league season with two losses was in 2014
. Tigers' first win at The Halliwell Jones Stadium since April 6, 2015
. This season's two losses are games The Wire won last year

MATCH FACTS:

Super League Round Two, Friday, February 24, 2017

Warrington Wolves...22
Castleford Tigers...30

Wolves: Jack Johnson; Matty Russell, Rhys Evans, Ryan Atkins, Tom Lineham; Kevin Brown, Dec Patton; Mike Cooper, Daryl Clark, Ashton Sims, Jack Hughes, Andre Savelio, Joe Westerman. Subs: Brad Dwyer, Dom Crosby, Harvey Livett, Ben Westwood.

Tigers: Zak Hardaker; Greg Minikin, Jake Webster, Michael Shenton, Greg Eden; Rangi Chase, Luke Gale; Andy Lynch, Adam Milner, Gadwin Springer, Jesse Sene-Lefao, Michael McMeeken, Nathan Massey. Subs: Grant Millington, Junior Moors, Matt Cook. Sub not used: Joel Monaghan.

Scoring: Savelio try, 6mins, Patton goal, 6-0; Sene-Lefao try, 19mins, Gale goal, 6-6; Hardaker try, 21mins, Gale goal, 6-12; Eden try, 25mins, 6-16; Gale try, 27mins, Gale goal, 6-22; Lineham try, 36mins, 10-22; Lineham try, 59mins, Patton goal, 16-22; Minikin try, 65mins, 16-26; Savelio try, 71mins, Livett goal, 22-26; Eden try, 76mins, 22-30.

Penalties: Wolves 9 Tigers 4

Referee: Phil Bentham

Attendance: 11,374

Man of the match (live blog fan's poll): Savelio