Castleford Tigers 14 Saints 33 SLICK-HANDLING Saints redeemed themselves in style for the 'blip' against Wakefield with this superb six-try victory at Wheldon Road.

They were in control throughout, and the game was a personal triumph for winger Chris Smith who - playing against his old team-mates - scored his first hat-trick for Saints.

Substitute forward Freddie Tuilagi and centre Kevin Iro marked their return after injury with storming displays, while Iro's partner Paul Newlove crossed for two classic tries.

Smith's first came within four minutes following Iro's brilliant 40-yard break with Sean Long converting, then Vila Matautia and Kevin linked to send the winger powering through Darren Rogers' tackle to cross in the corner.

Newlove was 'turned' in the act of scoring by Richard Gay, but little had been seen of Cas as an attacking force, and Saints forged further ahead when Tommy Martyn and Paul Atcheson carved out a try for Long.

The touchdown saw the Saints' scrum-half become the first player to reach 100 points in Super League this season

Atcheson was sin-binned for holding down, and the Tigers came roaring back in the 35th minute when props Dean Sampson and James Pickering put Rogers over in the corner. Castleford scrum-half Brad Davis joined Atcheson in the 'cooler' for interfering at the play-the-ball and, leading 14-4 at half-time, there was no let-up from Saints on the restart when Tuilagi broke over 70 yards to set up Smith's third touchdown.

Long tacked on the goal, but Cas hit back again when Danny Orr's pass opened the way for Davis to score and convert, then Martyn slipped Newlove a reverse pass for the Great Britain star to beat three men on a 20-yard burst to the line

Long was once more on target with the goal to leave Saints sitting pretty with a 26-10 lead with 55 minutes gone, and when the thoroughbred Newlove raced 80 yards to notch another six-pointer the game was over as a contest

Skipper Adrian Vowles paved the way for a late consolation try for Castleford by Gay, before Martyn set the seal on an wholly convincing performance by Saints with a last-gasp drop goal.

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