Castleford 18-48 Warrington

Castleford (0) 18
Tries: Ferres, Chase, Hudson, Eden
Goals: Orr
Warrington (24) 48
Tries: King 3, Hodgson 2, Myler, Blythe, J Monaghan, Atkins
Goals: Hodgson 6

Free-scoring Warrington ran in another nine tries as they cemented their place on top of Super League.

In his first game since announcing his end-of-season departure, Matt King grabbed a 15-minute hat-trick.

Top points scorer Brett Hodgson added a brace of tries, as well as kicking six goals for another 20-point haul.

Warrington's other tries came from Richie Myler, Matty Blythe, Joel Monaghan and Ryan Atkins as they remained a point clear of Wigan.

After destroying Terry Matterson's side 62-0 on home soil two months ago, Warrington again had far too much quality, despite missing skipper Adrian Morley and playmaker Lee Briers.

Tony Smith's men led 24-0 at the break, King scoring four minutes before the break, then adding two more scores to complete his treble within 11 minutes of the restart.

Castleford's spirited second-half rally ultimately meant little, having now shipped 102 points in two games.

They have now won just twice in 12 league games, with the daunting prospect of champions Wigan at the DW Stadium to come on Wednesday night (6 July, 2000 BST).

But the Tigers did at least finish well, crossing the Warrington whitewash four times through Brett Ferres, Rangi Chase, Ryan Hudson and promising youngster Greg Eden.

Castleford coach Terry Matterson:

"We got off to a horrible start and I thought we showed a lot of fight and aggression.

"But they were too good and they're going to be very hard to beat."

Warrington coach Tony Smith:

"It wasn't much of a game, I didn't think. We defended our own line pretty well in patches but we were way off in many aspects of our game.

"I don't think the scoreline did Castleford justice at all. I thought their effort and their sharpness was a lot greater than ours in the first half, even though we were up by I don't know how many points.

"Maybe this performance was the hangover from last week's win against St Helens or maybe it's other influences, I don't know. I just found it really difficult to get into that game and I think the players did too. It was just so disjointed."

TEAMS

Castleford: Mathers; Eden, Arundel, Ferres, Owen; Chase, McGoldrick; Fozzard, Orr, Emmitt, Jones, Snitch, Hudson.

Replacements: Jackson, Milner, Massey, Holmes.

Sin Bin: Emmitt (54).

Warrington: Hodgson; J Monaghan, Blythe, Atkins, King; Bridge, Myler; Wood, M Monaghan, Carvell, Grix, Westwood, Harrison.

Replacements: Higham, Clarke, Cooper, Solomona.

Sin Bin: Cooper (54).

Attendance: 5,947.

Referee: James Child (Dewsbury).