Super League: St Helens 10-20 Castleford Tigers - Cas win to end 31-year wait

Greg Eden raced in to seal the win for Castleford

Greg Eden's late intercept try helped Castleford Tigers stun 12-man champions St Helens and secure a first league win at Saints since October 1990.

The Tigers edged a tight, niggly first half as Eden scored in the corner after Jack Welsby did likewise for Saints.

Oliver Holmes' try gave Cas a further buffer while Saints' Tommy Makinson was sent off for a hit on Niall Evalds.

Alex Walmsley powered in for Saints, who desperately attacked the Cas line before Eden swept away to win it.

Daryl Powell's side realistically needed to win to keep their play-off hopes alive and turned in a courageous display against a Saints side fresh from victory over leaders Catalans Dragons on Saturday.

After Cas conceded the first try from a delightful move to the left which opened them up and allowed Welsby to score, the Tigers had chances of their own but failed to convert field position into points with Grant Millington's spills.

However, Millington and fellow props Suaia Matagi and Tyla Hepi constantly took the game to Saints' forwards and off the back of that, Evalds linked brilliantly to create the try for Eden out wide, while Holmes showed neat footwork to carve his way in.

Saints failed to find their rhythm for large periods, not helped by ruck indiscipline which was continually penalised by referee Ben Thaler, but Walmsley's surge was the jolt that they needed, particularly after Makinson's red card.

It looked like they would come up with the goods as another dangerous move swung to the right, but Eden swiped as the pass was heading to Kevin Naiqama's hands to finally bring one of rugby league's away day hoodoos to a close.

St Helens head coach Kristian Woolf:

""Losses are always disappointing but we didn't play to our standards tonight.

"We put too much pressure on ourselves with too many errors and poor penalties. Our discipline let us down and that was something that we've carried over from last week. That's something we need to get better at.

"I was pleased with the way we fought back with 11 men and gave ourselves a real chance. If we get that last play right (when Eden scored an interception try) we end up scoring. We put ourselves under too much pressure but there was a lot to be proud of.

"Castleford played well and they were right up for the game. We weren't quite at our best tonight - at this level of sport it's really fine margins and that's what we saw tonight."

Castleford boss Daryl Powell:

"We haven't won here for 30-odd years so I'm made up to win here. It might be the last time I come here as Cas coach depending on play-offs and things so I'm so pleased I'm the coach that ended that run. It's awesome. The players were so courageous tonight - that's a big win for us.

"I thought we defended really tough all the way through. We dropped some ball early on but I thought once we got hold of it we were the better team. It was a bit helter-skelter at the end but Greg Eden came up with a great play with that interception try. It's something he's class at. He has such a great instinct as a player for things like that.

"We have backed up that win at Leeds last time out and we want to get in the top six. It's a tough ask because we only had 15 fit players a few weeks ago. People write you off because they don't always understand the situation. The focus now is to keep pushing hard."

St Helens: Coote, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Welsby, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Thompson, Batchelor, Mata'utia.

Interchanges: Bentley, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Amor, Pa'asi.

Castleford: Evalds, Olpherts, Mata'utia, Turner, Eden, Richardson, O'Brien, Smith, Sene-Lefao, Holmes, Millington,McShane, Matagi.

Interchanges: Watts, Blair, Griffin, Hepi.

Referee: Ben Thaler (RFL)

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