Qareqare hat-trick helps Castleford beat St Helens

Image source, SWPIX

• Published23 May 2026, 17:03 BST

Betfred Super League

Castleford (10) 30

Tries: Qareqare 3, Greacen, Golding Goals: Weaver 5

St Helens (0) 10

Tries: Murphy, Dagnall Goal: Sailor

Jason Qareqare's hat-trick of tries helped Castleford Tigers impressively beat a below-par St Helens in Super League.

Saints were bidding for a sixth straight Super League win, which would have taken them back to the top of the table in place of Leeds, who thrashed Huddersfield on Friday.

However, they remain second on points difference after losing to a Castleford side that produced one of their best displays of the season.

Tigers took a deserved 10-0 lead into half-time thanks to two well-taken tries by winger Qareqare and a Tom Weaver penalty.

Brock Greacen extended the advantage and any momentum Saints gained from Lewis Murphy's reply was quickly halted when Qareqare completed his hat-trick from Castleford's next attacking set.

Ashton Golding's score rounded off a fine afternoon for the hosts in the Yorkshire sunshine, with Owen Dagnall's late reply a consolation.

The key spell in the match came either side of half-time, with Castleford scoring two of their five tries while Saints half-back Jack Welsby was in the sin bin following a late collision with Daejarn Asi.

Castleford were already 4-0 up at that stage but had stretched their lead to 16 points by the time the visitors were back up to 13 players.

While Castleford excelled to register back-to-back Super League wins, Saints struggled for fluency throughout and their disappointing afternoon was summed up by the period of play after Murphy's try.

Dagnall failed to cleanly gather Weaver's bouncing kick-off, from which Qareqare grabbed his third try, and from the restart Tristan Sailor sent his kick-off out on the full.

Castleford were able to manage the game comfortably from there, taking the extra two points when they were on offer and adding some extra gloss to the scoreline when Golding touched down for the hosts' final try of the match.

Carr praises 'unbelievable' Tigers - post-match reaction

Castleford head coach Ryan Carr told BBC Radio 5 Live:

"It was unbelievable and something I knew was here in the group.

"We just had to keep going after it and not let outside noise dictate how we felt and played. We've stayed on course from day one and we're going to keep staying on course.

"We'll have bumps and bruises along the way but if we can continue to put more performances like that out there, we'll be better as a club.

"Defensively, I was really impressed. We worked hard on that through the week because we know they're a potent attacking team, so to keep them to a low score is something I'm more pleased about than the points we scored."

St Helens head coach Paul Rowley told BBC Radio 5 Live:

"We were double figures in errors and double figures in penalties against - that's not compatible to winning performances.

"Those two factors contribute to fatigue, then you lose the physicality as well and it doesn't give you a chance to regain momentum.

"Cas had the momentum for pretty much all of that game, to be honest.

"It was remarkable to go in at half-time within touching distance. That gave us an opportunity if we scored first, but the trend of giving away cheap possession and unforced errors continued.

"We came out with belief and enthusiasm, but credit to Castleford, they continued what they did in the first half and unfortunately we copied and pasted as well with the errors and the penalties."

Castleford: Laulu-Togaga'e; Valemei, Cini, Mapapalangi, Qareqare; Asi, Weaver; Stimson, Golding, Dupree, Lane, Mellor, Lawler.

Interchanges: Atoni, Greacen, Hall, Robb.

St Helens: Sailor; Dagnall, Cross, Percival, Murphy; Welsby, Hastings; Klemmer, Clark, Delaney, Sironen, Whitley, Shorrocks.

Interchanges: Lomax, Walmsley, Wright, Stephens.

Referee: Liam Rush

Related topics

• Castleford Tigers
• Rugby League
• St Helens