Castleford Tigers 49 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 24: Powerful Carney leaves Trinity debutant Tautai in shade

Much of the pre-match talk had been about Wakefield’s new capture, the marauding Samoan prop who almost joined their rivals but who it is now hoped will add some power to Trinity’s fitful campaign.

The 17st forward from Parramatta Eels certainly did that on his debut off the bench in Manchester, powering through Rangi Chase with a forceful run to set up Dean Collis with one of his first touches.

The only problem for Trinity, however, was that outstanding Castleford had already raced into a 22-0 lead by that point thanks largely to the charging contributions of their own man-mountain.

Justin Carney may play on the wing for Tigers but the chunky Australian could easily do a stint at prop given his physique.

Battered Wakefield wideman Peter Fox will definitely wish his opponent had been playing elsewhere on Saturday.

By the time Carney had finished running through, around or over the hapless winger, rampant Castleford were out of sight.

After Daryl Clark had sniped over in the fourth minute, he surged clear from his own 20m to set up Jamie Ellis and then another barrelling run created the position for fellow winger Kirk Dixon to get the first of his four tries.

Confused Fox had almost backtracked into the Etihad seats when the 24-year-old came at him again just before the break to get on the sheet and make it 32-12.

It safely secured Daryl Powell’s first win as Castleford chief and, with a trip to struggling London Broncos on Saturday, they will be hoping for a swift second to start pulling further clear of the bottom. Dixon said: “Justin is just like a wrecking ball. He’s playing great for us and it’s like having an extra forward out there. In fact he’s bigger than most of ours. He should be in the Exiles squad to face England. He does so much damage.

“I thought our pack really laid the platform, though. They really stood up against Wakefield so the likes of Rangi could do their stuff. I just had to catch the ball and put it down.”

That last point was certainly not true about Dixon’s second when he brilliantly got above Ben Cockayne to take Chase’s kick before showing great awareness, skill and dexterity to finish one-handed in the corner.

Ellis ended with 17 points from a try, six conversions and a drop goal and Craig Huby and Jordan Thompson also crossed.

For Wakefield, this was another disappointing showing. Admittedly, they were forced into using centre/full-back Lee Smith as a emergency stand-off with Paul Sykes and Kyle Wood injured.

But that was not the root of their problems. Richard Agar’s side could not deal with Chase’s kicks – three tries stemmed from his crossfield efforts – and an inability to control Carney meant they always seemed to be on the backfoot.

Tautai does look like he will cause some damage. He continually shrugged off the first defender with a fearsome fend.

However, this defeat has severely dented Trinity’s hopes of reaching the play-offs especially as leaders Wigan are up next.

Collis finished with two tries and Danny Kirmond and Chris Annakin also scored with Lee Smith adding four goals, but there was few positives especially as captain Kirmond (fractured cheekbone), Tim Smith (shoulder), Paul Aiton (jaw) and Ali Lauitiiti (foot) suffered injuries.

Castleford Tigers: Tansey; Dixon, Shenton, Thompson, Carney; Chase, Ellis; Millington, Clark, Huby, Holmes, Hauraki, Massey. Substitutes: Walker, Milner, Fleming, Boyle.

Wakefield Trinity: Mathers; Fox, Collis, Lyne, Cockayne; L Smith, T Smith; Poore, Aiton, Raleigh, Lauitiiti, Kirmond, Washbrook. Substitutes: Amor, Trout, Annakin, Tautai.

Referee: R Hicks (Oldham).