Warrington Wolves 66-12 Castleford Tigers: Dominant victory sees hosts jump to fifth in Super League table after 11-try rout

Warrington Wolves pair Paul Vaughan and Ben Currie, who were both on the scoresheet against Castleford Tigers

Warrington boosted their hopes of securing a play-off spot in Super League with a 66-12 thrashing of Castleford at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The win sees Warrington leapfrog Hull KR into fifth spot on points difference and move two points ahead of seventh placed Salford with the Wolves and Red Devils meeting next weekend in a crunch encounter for both sides.

The game turned Warrington's way early in the second half with the score at just 18-12 in their favour when Castleford half-back Jacob Miller was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on Peter Mata'utia.

While Miller was in the sin-bin, Warrington ran in four converted tries to take the game totally away from the visitors at 42-12.

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Ben Currie claimed his 100th career try for the Wolves in the win while Matt Dufty, George Williams and Paul Vaughan claimed two tries with others coming from Daryl Clark, Matty Nicholson, Matty Ashton and James Harrison.

Stefan Ratchford also passed 1,500 points for the Wolves as he kicked 11 goals from as many attempts.

In contrast the Tigers are still looking nervously over their shoulders just two points ahead of Wakefield at the bottom of the table with Trinity entertaining St Helens on Sunday before the final three games of the regular season.

Their points came from tries by Sam Hall and Greg Eden and two conversions by Gareth Widdop.

Warrington named the same side that ended their seven-match losing run at Hull FC, while Castleford were without the suspended Liam Watts and Liam Horne following the defeat against St Helens and Will Tate also missed out through injury with Greg Eden returning to the side along with Blake Austin and Hall.

It was Hall who got the visitors off to a dream start when he crashed on to a Joe Westerman pass to score after just four minutes which Widdop converted.

But the Wolves recovered from the early setback to dominate the rest of the half as they drew level when Vaughan powered his way over and Ratchford kicked his milestone conversion which saw him reach the 1,500 mark.

The home side then claimed two tries in two minutes as Dufty and Currie both touched down and Ratchford maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot.

The Wolves should have been out of sight by the interval as Currie raced clear but his intended pass to Williams hit the deck and then Williams just lost possession as he stretched out to score so Gary Chanbers' side had to settle for a 12-point lead at half time at 18-6.

The Wolves continued to blow chances at the start of the second half as this time Dufty failed to take Nicholson's pass with the line at his mercy and the Tigers made them pay when Eden crossed in the corner and Widdop kicked the touchline conversion to cut the arrears to 18-12.

But Castleford's momentum was halted when Miller was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Mata'utia and Warrington immediately made their extra man tell as Dufty claimed his second try which Ratchford converted.

That knocked the stuffing out of the Tigers as the Wolves added three more tries from Clark, Nicholson and Ashton while Miller was still on the sidelines, all converted by Ratchford, to stretch the lead to 42-12.

Warrington completed the rout as they passed the 60-point mark with further tries from Williams, Harrison and Vaughan as Ratchford maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot.