Warrington Wolves’ play-off hopes were dealt a huge blow as they lost 20-14 at Castleford Tigers on Sunday at The Jungle.
Here’s our talking points.
Huge Warrington setback
The Wolves made the trip to Castleford on the back of three straight Super League wins. There had been a couple of shaky moments over that period with the performance at Salford Red Devils being questionable and they needed a bit of last minute magic from George Williams to beat Catalans Dragons.
However the drop off in performance at The Jungle was alarming, with the Wolves struggling to get firing for large periods of the game and it’s fair to say they lacked cohesion and grit in defence too, with some soft defensive efforts proving costly.
They actually took the lead, as a Rooney Fletcher error gifted them possession on the Tigers line before Sam Stone eventually got himself over. But two poor pieces of defensive play allowed the home side to take a lead into the break.
Connor Wrench was sold a dummy by Deajarn Asi, who powered home to get the Tigers on the board before Lachlan Fitzgibbon made a mess of a kick allowing George Lawler to finish.
Jake Thewlis got himself over in the corner, but a crunching Jeremiah Simbiken challenge saw Marc Sneyd commit the error that led to Josh Simm’s effort, which proved to be the difference.
Tigers response
Eyebrows were raised by Chris Chester’s selection with George Lawler in at hooker, but it’s fair to say Lawler was at the heart of a resilient and determined performance on home soil. It was one they needed too after being beaten by Salford Red Devils last time out.
Asi ran the show for large periods but they overpowered Warrington physically and took their chances when they had them to cap a fine showing in the West Yorkshire rain.
The Tigers have little but pride to play for at this point but on the back of this showing, you wouldn’t bet against them pipping Catalans Dragons to ninth spot.
Injury blows
Jordy Crowther stepped off the bench in the first half but had to be withdrawn at the interval after appearing to dislocate his elbow. The forward managed to play on for a couple of minutes after the injury with his arm dangling to his side lifelessly.
He emerged from the tunnel at the start of the second half with his arm in a sling. That will have come as a big blow for Burgess, who may have been relying on Crowther to spell Sam Powell at some point of the contest.
Warrington are already without a host of players through injury and the last thing they need is another man dropping out. Josh Thewlis passed a HIA in the second half after a high tackle from Alex Mellor, with Sneyd also coming off.
Jack Smith’s error
Castleford had every right to feel a little hard done by at the start of the second half as Josh Simm was pulled back from what would have been a certain try for what Jack Smith deemed to be a knock on from a high kick. Castleford challenged the call immediately and replays showed the ball passing through the arms of Simm without being touched before bouncing off the shoulder of Chris Atkin.
The Tigers won the appeal on the back of George Williams being offside at the kick and disrupting the catcher, but Simm should have been allowed to race away and score. Fortunately for Cas, it didn’t prove to be costly.
Play-off implications
Warrington looked like they could launch a challenge for the top six over the remaining couple of months, but there’s absolutely no chance of that on the back of this showing.
The Wire were lethargic, short of ideas and lost at points as they failed to deal with Cas’ enthusiasm. They’re three points off sixth placed Hull, but Burgess’ side take on the form team of the competition next up in Leigh Leopards and another defeat could be fatal to their play-off hopes.
Big @CTRLFC win 🐯#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/RJf6fywite
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) July 20, 2025
