Warrington Wolves u19 16 Castleford Tigers u19 28 (From Warrington Guardian)

Warrington Wolves u19 16 Castleford Tigers u19 28

9:04am Sunday 3rd February 2013 in Wolves news

WARRINGTON Wolves suffered an opening day defeat as they were beaten by Castleford Tigers at Wilderspool Stadium on Saturday.

It all seemed to be going to plan early on as Wolves built up a ten point lead but a sterling fightback by Castleford in the closing 15 minutes of the first half turned the game on its head.

Wolves opened the scoring in the seventh minute when loose forward Ben Currie spotted a gap on the blind side on the last tackle and found winger Jack Johnson. Full back Scott Turner converted.

Six minutes later great hands by seven players saw the ball eventually reach winger Marcus Elliott who managed to roll out of an attempted tackle and stretch over to score in the left corner.

Tigers hit back on 27 minutes when a 50m break by second row Shaun Pick split the Wolves defence and a quick play-the-ball saw an overlap on the left for centre Tommy Newbould to go over.

Soon after, a short ball from scrum half Zak Snellgrove put second row Luke Day over on the right. Ben Reynolds added his second conversion to give his side the lead.

Three minutes before the break the visitors increased their advantage when a high kick on the last tackle by Reynolds was not dealt with by Wolves and hooker Casey Canterbury collected the loose ball to cross between the posts. Reynolds goaled to give Tigers an 18-10 half-time lead.

Wolves got themselves back into the game eight minutes after the break.

After substitute Daniel Murray had been held just short, fellow substitute Ryan Maneely found Currie from acting half back to score on the left.

Turner converted but then four minutes later Tigers responded when prop forward Nathan Hammond brushed off some weak defence to score.

Tigers continued to control the game and they went further ahead when Canterbury spotted a gap from dummy half and managed to force his way over.

Reynolds converted to give Castleford a 12-point advantage which proved to be more than enough.

Wolves: Scott Turner; Jack Johnson, James Saltonstall, Tom Battye, Marcus Elliott; Declan Patton, Daniel Hirst; Micky Learmonth, Andy Ackers, Joe Collins, Gavin Bennion, Joe Philbin, Ben Currie. Subs: Ryan Maneely, Toby King, Robert Holroyd, Daniel Murray.

Tries: Johnson (7 mins), Elliott (13), Currie (48).

Goals: Turner 2 from 3

Tigers: Kane Riley; Jamie Graves, Jordan Gill, Tommy Newbould, Billy Nodder; Ben Reynolds, Zak Snellgrove; Nathan Hammond, Casey Canterbury, Ryan Backhouse, Luke Day, Shaun Pick, Brad Foster. Subs: Lewis Farr, Brad Hay, Jordan Anderson, Ben Passmore.

Tries: Newbould (27 mins), Day (31), Canterbury (37, 65), Hammond (54).

Goals: Reynolds 4 from 5

Referee: Chris Campbell (Widnes)