WAKEFIELD TRINITY made light work of Castleford Tigers in Luke Gale’s testimonial at the DIY Kitchens Stadium, running out 32-8 winners.
Trinity ran in six tries and looked very much the part as Castleford bowed to relentless Wakefield pressure.
For Wakefield boss Daryl Powell, it was a sweet reunion against his former side and he reflected on the win after the game: “It’s hard when you put a new team together but we’ve trained pretty well and we feel like we’ve got a decent squad together.
“I thought the start to the game was class, we got in some good field position and we looked really clinical which is what I spoke about to the boys before.
“We conceded a couple of soft-ish tries, they didn’t really have that much pressure on our line but overall I thought we were good.
“Our younger players were good towards the end and it was pleasing to see some growth in there as we’ve built a new team too.
“I know Cas had a fair few signings in there but for us to be that clinical at times and execute as well as we did and be stiff defensively was almost a complete game.
“It’s only pre-season and I’m not going to get carried away but to put in that type of performance was really pleasing.
“We’ve still got quite a few players to come back in who are good quality players so competition for places is really strong. It was a big step up from what we did at Christmas.
“Leeds looked stronger than what Cas did tonight and they went after that game but we won’t get too excited.
“It gives us validation that some things we are working on we are doing it well enough to compete in Super League.”
Powell also gave his verdict on Wakefield’s new signings.
“I thought Cam Scott was particularly a standout, he was stiff defensively and made numerous linebreaks on the back of our ball movement and Oliver Pratt was strong on the opposite side.
“Matty Storton is a handful and he has been a real standout in our pre-season.”
Powell also gave an update on Liam Hood, who rolled his ankle, and Max Jowitt who left the field early in the second-half.
“Liam Hood rolled his ankle which enabled Harvey Smith to get some minutes under his belt.
“Max Jowitt is just a bit of cramp, we haven’t been on grass a hell of a lot with the 4G but he will be fine.”
In terms of the halfbacks at Powell’s disposal, Mason Lino and Jake Trueman started in the halves with Oli Russell coming off the bench.
“We’ve got a game next week before we get into the season, competition is what it is all about. Oli started on Boxing Day and Mason started tonight.
“Oli will start again next week and we will mix the combinations up and think about the right combination for round one.”
