St Helens’ Mark Percival stuns Castleford with hat-trick of tries
St Helens brought last season’s grand finalists Castleford down to earth with a bump on the opening Betfred Super League weekend.
Saints thumped Cas 46-6 at the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday with Mark Percival scoring a hat-trick of tries and Danny Richardson slotting seven goals in the romp.
Ben Barba (two), Zeb Taia (two) and Jonny Lomax were the other Saints try scorers in the one-sided affair, with a Paul McShane try and a Luke Gale goal was Castleford’s consolation. The hosts got off to a flying start and were 22-0 up at the break thanks to some breathless play, with Percival looking particularly impressive.
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Saints were also indebted to half-backs Jonny Lomax and youngster Danny Richardson, whose display vindicated coach Justin Holbrook’s decision to leave out former England international Matty Smith, as they ran the Tigers ragged to leave them still looking for a first away win over their opponents since 1992.
Saints never looked back after a Barba-inspired spell helped them open up a 10-0 lead inside six minutes. Lomax put Percival through a gaping hole in the visitors’ defence and Barba finished off for the opening try before supporting a break by Jon Wilkin to combine with new skipper James Roby to get second rower Taia over.
One of the biggest cheers of the night was reserved for the introduction of Alex Walmsley midway through the first half. The England prop, fresh from signing a new long-term contract, immediately made his mark after Castleford full-back Ben Roberts, deputising less than impressively for the suspended Zak Hardaker, fumbled the ball on his own 10-metre line.
Winger Liam Marshall and centre Oliver Gildart both scored twice as Wigan made a winning start to their Super League campaign with a dominant 40-12 victory against Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Despite falling behind in the third minute, Shaun Wane’s Warriors went on to control the game thanks to the influence of half-backs George Williams and Sam Powell.
Wigan were especially impressive in the second half when the backline terrorised the Salford defence and added 30 points.
Tom Johnstone marked his long-awaited comeback with a hat-trick as Wakefield spoiled Hull KR’s party in their first game back in Super League.
The young winger missed most of the 2017 season with a serious knee injury but he quickly rediscovered the form that had put him in contention for an England place.
Another Johnstone try made it 18-0 at half-time and he completed his treble after Chris Clarkson had got Rovers on the board, with Ryan Hampshire rounding off the scoring on a winning return to east Hull for coach Chris Chester.
Hull KR were hoping for a repeat of their thrilling victory over Trinity in their inaugural Super League match in 2007 but instead they got a reality check.