Castleford 6-35 Wakefield
Wakefield rarely had to get out of second gear to overcome a Castleford Tigers side bereft of their usual attacking prowess, in front of 10,155 spectators at The Jungle.
The conditions favoured the away side more, Castleford’s usual free-flowing passing stifled by the wet conditions, and ill-discipline along with several errors handed their rivals the game.
Wakefield coach John Kear will be happy with his side’s performance however, with Brad Drew in fine form.
The half-back came on shortly before half-time and was instrumental in turning the 8-0 scoreline into a comfortable 35-6 victory.
The Tigers had the opportunity to open the scoring early on through Kirk Dixon, however the winger kicked his penalty wide of the posts.
Both sides failed to settle, making several handling errors.
However, it was the away side who drew first blood with Tony Martin crossing.
Danny Sculthorpe setup the centre literally seconds after entering the field of play with a moment of handling magic.
Danny Brough converted and added a further penalty goal to give the Wildcats an 8-0 lead going into half-time, despite Tigers’ scrum-half Brent Sherwin having an effort ruled out for a knock-on earlier in the play.
But the second half turned out to be much worse for the Tigers as the Wildcats ran riot.
Atkins added a try shortly after half-time, spinning out of the tackle to cross.
Castleford did show some brief resilience to drag themselves back into it thanks to Joe Westerman.
The teenage star latched onto a Rangi Chase kick to ground, but that proved to be the Tigers’ solitary try.
The Wildcats added a further penalty thanks to the boot of Martin, taking over from the reliable Brough, who had been replaced by Australian talisman Drew.
And the talented hooker turned proviso straight away, his kick rebounding off the posts into the hands of Matt Blaymire as the floodgates opened.
Sam Obst slid through a kick on the back of yet another penalty for Sean Gleeson to crash over, before the return of Brough issued a drop goal as the Wildcats started to embarrass the Tigers.
And Atkins added his second of the game shortly before full-time, to sink the blade in further, with Brough adding another conversion to give Wakefield a comfortable derby victory over their rivals.