WOLVES delivered an opening 40 minutes of rugby league as entertaining as you will see anywhere in the world.

Tony Smith’s men were hungry, explosive, slick and at times beyond defendable as they ripped a ‘vulnerable’ Castleford team to shreds.

Wolves, having left their fans with no finger nails after wins at Salford and Catalans came in the final seconds, set out to put a depleted Cas side to bed early and boy did they deliver.

Led by the power of skipper Chris Hill and Cas-born Joe Westerman up front and the promptings of hooker Brad Dwyer and half backs Chris Sandow and Kurt Gidley, Wolves constructed a 38-0 lead that ensured this season’s unbeaten record was safe by half time.

Tigers could not handle pocket dynamo Sandow in particular.

The scrum half set the stadium alight time and time again with his full array of trickery and deception on show. From exhilarating darting runs to masterly kicking and precision passing, Cas and the admiring watchers did not know what he was going to come up with next.

Playing at the height of confidence, with his family having arrived from Australia 24 hours earlier, he set the tone with his fourth-minute try from a cheeky last-tackle chip and chase that duped defenders into thinking he was going in a different direction.

He bagged the first try of the second half too, wrong footing three defenders after taking a return pass from Ben Currie, and assisted in seven of the other nine tries.

Twice he laid on passes in a sensational seven-man handling move over 70 metres that Currie finished offpowerfully at the end of the first period while the back rower’s outstanding footwork resulted in him defeating four outside backs to notch the game’s final try too.

Gidley, involved in six tries, is proving to be the perfect partner to Sandow. The stand off is not as explosive, but his rugby brain allows him to plot and explore opportunities – providing a steady hand.

Some spirit from the visitors, along with stoppages for three injuries, disrupted Wolves’ flow in the second half and Cas, although hurting, could have headed home grateful things were not worse.

At least four other gilt-edged try chances were not taken by Wolves and five conversions were missed too on a night that will always be remembered for the opening 40.

INTERESTING NOTES:

* Wolves won first six league games of a season for first time since 1950

* Including two wins from the end of 2015, Wolves' eight-match winning run is the current longest in Super League

* Brad Dwyer scored his first try of the season

* Ben Currie, who has scored at least one try in each of the last five matches, made his 100th career appearance including three for Ireland, one for England Knights and three on dual-registration for Swinton.

* Ryan Atkins needs four points to reach 500 for Warrington

MATCH FACTS:

Super League Round Six, Friday, March 18, 2016

Warrington Wolves…56 Castleford Tigers…12

Wolves: Matty Russell; Tom Lineham, Rhys Evans, Ryan Atkins, Kevin Penny; Kurt Gidley, Brad Dwyer, Ashton Sims, Jack Hughes, Ben Currie, Joe Westerman. Subs: Stefan Ratchford, George King, Daryl Clark, Jordan Cox.

Tigers: Jy Hitchcox; Joel Monaghan, Ben Crooks, Jake Webster, Denny Solomona; Ryan Hampshire, Luke Gale; Andy Lynch, Adam Milner, Will Maher, Grant Millington, Mike McMeeken, Nathan Massey. Subs: Paul McShane, Matt Cook, Frankie Mariano, Gadwin Springer.

Scoring: Sandow try, 4mins, Gidley goal, 6-0 Penny try, 10mins, 10-0; Lineham try, 15mins, 14-0; Russell try, 21mins, Gidley goal, 20-0; Russell try, 31mins, Gidley goal, 26-0; Atkins try, 35mins, Gidley goal, 32-0; Currie try, Gidley goal, 38-0; Sandow try, 42mins, 42-0; Monaghan try, 47mins, Gale goal, 42-6; Springer try, 56mins, Gale goal, 42-12; Dwyer try, 64mins, 46-12; Lineham try, 67mins, 50-12; Currie try, 80mins, Gidley goal, 56-12.

Penalties: Wolves 5 Tigers 6

Sin bin: Ratchford, 72mins, crocodile roll

Referee: Robert Hicks

Attendance: 10,940

Top Man: Chris Sandow