Watch Warrington vs Castleford and Wigan vs Salford in the Betfred Super League play-offs live on Sky Sports Arena on Thursday and Friday nights
Thursday 19 September 2019 10:53, UK
Ahead of the sides' play-off ties on Thursday and Friday nights, Ian Proctor recalls classic Warrington vs Castleford and Wigan vs Salford games.
Warrington and Castleford have met only once previously in the Super League play-offs, and that occasion was five years ago at the Jungle.
In their first full season under Daryl Powell, the Tigers had finished in their highest-ever Super League placing of fourth in 2014. It earned Powell his first play-off coaching experience at this level since his Leeds team was denied an Old Trafford visit by Wigan 11 years previously.
Under the top-eight system, Castleford were compelled to visit league leaders St Helens in their opening game and they suffered a confidence-sapping 41-0 defeat at the hands of Nathan Brown's side.
Warrington, having finished fifth, had come back from the dead to win a thrilling opening play-off 'derby' against a Widnes side making their first Super League play-off appearance. Having trailed 0-18 at one stage, the Wolves fought back to win 22-19 courtesy of Joel Monaghan's try hat-trick.
Consequently, the Wolves arrived at the Jungle fancying their chances as they sought their third consecutive Old Trafford appearance.
Inspired by man-of-the-match Stefan Ratchford, injury-hit Warrington, wearing black armbands after the passing of ex-half-back Greg Mackey, took a 10-4 interval lead with Ryan Atkins opening the scoring with his third-minute try.
Luke Dorn scored the opening try of the second half but Warrington took control with the stunning try in which Ratchford played a prominent role, supported by Richie Myler whose pass sent Gareth O'Brien over.
Rhys Evans and Joel Monaghan, with his second, added further scores for the Wolves and there was a consolation effort from Michael Shenton that reduced the victory margin to 30-14.
Warrington went on to lose at Wigan in the semi-final and Castleford licked their wounds following a season in which they had appeared at Wembley for the first time in 22 years and enjoyed their finest Super League campaign.
Warrington made a great start to the 2011 season and went on to clinch the League Leaders trophy for the first time by winning 22 of their 27 weekly-round matches.
And an undoubted highlight of the season was the way they tore through the opposition in the month of May, winning 58-14 at Bradford and 42-6 at Leeds and also inflicting this 62-0 televised defeat upon hapless Castleford at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
After making his Wolves debut in the previous week's Challenge Cup win at Keighley Cougars, teenage half-back Gareth O'Brien immediately showed his quality with the fourth-minute try that proved only the first of five that gave Warrington their 28-0 interval lead.
The highlight was a chip 'n' chase effort from peerless Lee Briers and he, Matt King and Simon Grix finished with two tries apiece. Brett Hodgson weighed in with 18 points from a try and seven goals from nine attempts.
It was a sorry return to the Halliwell Jones Stadium for ex-Wolves full-back Richie Mathers, who was one of the few to enhance his reputation in Terry Matterson's humiliated outfit.
Castleford have managed only five wins from 15 visits to the Halliwell Jones Stadium but they have fond memories of visits to Warrington in the early days of Super League.
The Tigers won on four of their final seven visits to Wilderspool Stadium, with the last occasion bringing an important 32-16 victory in May 2003. It enabled Castleford to move into a play-off position at the expense of the Wolves.
Castleford's win was all the more impressive given their injury crisis which saw Dean Sampson come out of retirement to play from the sub's bench - and the former England international marked the occasion with a vital 29th-minute try.
The battle royal up front was highlighted by stirring performances from rival front-rowers Nick Fozzard and Andy Lynch.
After conceding the opening try of the game to Wolves sub' Darren Burns, in the 15th minute, Castleford's Ryan Hudson crossed before Sampson and Waine Pryce added further four-pointers before Lee Briers hit back for the Wolves.
Graham Steadman's side built on the 18-10 interval lead with Tom Saxton's try and Hudson's second, four minutes from time, sealing their 32-16 win over Paul Cullen's men.
Visits to Wigan, and especially the DW Stadium, have proved traumatic for Salford since they were last title contenders some forty years ago.
After winning for the third time in four visits to Central Park, in May 1979, the Red Devils managed just one further win in their final 18 visits to the Wigan venue. They were humiliated, 64-2, on their last appearance at Central Park in a Super League fixture in July 1999.
Salford's 21 subsequent visits to DW Stadium have brought just a solitary win and that was the Niall Evalds-inspired 31-16 triumph two years ago.
The Red Devils annually travelled to Wigan like lambs to the slaughter and the defeat on the last day of July 2014 was typical of their usual experience.
Led by Adrian Morley, Salford arrived quietly confident of an overdue victory, having won three of their previous four matches, whereas the reigning champions were licking their wounds after being victims of a major upset when losing 8-16 at relegation-bound Bradford the previous week.
The television cameras were anticipating an historic first Salford win at DW Stadium but, in truth, they were never in the hunt. It was the occasion of Joel Tomkins' return to Wigan after his spell in rugby union and the Warriors were always going to mark it with a win.
Matty Bowen's 13th-minute try gave Wigan their early ascendancy and they led 16-0 at the interval. But the brilliant former Queensland full-back was upstaged for once by a career-first try hat-trick from popular Anthony Gelling while Matty Smith scored a try, six goals and a drop-goal against his former club.
Salford finally ended their DW Stadium hoodoo with victory at the 18th attempt, two years ago. It had been 20 years since their previous win at Wigan but that had been at Central Park.
Ian Watson's men (third) were in the rare position of being higher on the league table than Wigan (fifth) and they illustrated that their lofty standing was well earned by dominating the first-half to leave home fans shell-shocked
It was 16-0 to the Red Devils at the interval with Kris Welham, Ben Murdoch-Masila and Niall Evalds scoring the tries. And, astonishingly, Salford increased the lead to 28-0 after 47 minutes as Evalds scored his second try and Greg Johnson added another.
If there was any disappointment for Watson it was in the way in which his men let Wigan off the hook. There was an inevitable fightback with tries from Tom Davies, Ryan Sutton and Lewis Tierney.
But Salford completed their historic victory when Gareth O'Brien slotted over a drop-goal to seal the 31-16 verdict.
Former Wigan legend Andy Gregory was the man who secured promotion as coach of Salford after they had been omitted from the inaugural 12-team Super League in 1996. And he ensured their debut season in the top flight went much better than anyone anticipated.
Salford finished 6th, winning exactly half of their 22 matches, and the biggest surprises were reserved for their two meetings with Wigan.
The Red Devils won home and away against Wigan in their debut Super League season - an achievement that had been beyond them since 1978-79 when their star-studded team included club legends Keith Fielding, Maurice Richards and former Wigan centre Chris Hesketh.
The Sky Sports cameras were present when tries from Darren Rogers and Ian Watson gave Salford their unexpected 14-4 win over the Warriors at the Willows, in April 1997.
And they were there again when it finished 21-14 to Salford at Central Park after former Wigan half-back Steve Blakeley scored a try and four goals to go with further tries from Gary Broadbent and Peter Edwards plus Mark Lee's drop-goal.
It proved to be Wigan's last defeat of a disappointing domestic season as they put together a six-match winning run that culminated in Andy Farrell lifting silverware following their 33-20 defeat of St Helens in the last Premiership Final at Old Trafford.
