Wigan suffer nightmare start

This was the worst possible start to the season for Wigan, with their captain Andy Farrell suffering a knee injury in the first half of a damaging opening defeat.

But, overshadowing all that, was a miserable end to a traumatic week for their Great Britain centre Paul Johnson, who was sent off for a high tackle which felled the Castleford forward Jamie Thackray in injury time.

Johnson only decided to play over the weekend after attending the funeral last Tuesday of his younger brother Craig, who had died in a car crash with his Wigan under-21 team-mate Billy Joe Edwards 10 days earlier. Wigan's coach Stuart Raper praised Johnson's performance, and felt his late dismissal was harsh.

"I thought it was a good shot, although I'd have to look at the video," he said. "That's the way PJ tackles. I had to switch him into the second-row when we lost Faz, and he looked strong in there which was quite commendable when you think of what he's gone through - he's lost three-quarters of a stone."

However, Johnson will now have to attend a disciplinary hearing in Leeds tomorrow.

His sending-off did not affect the result, as it came shortly after Darren Rogers had struck the decisive blow of a tense, flucuating second half with his second try to put Castleford 15-10 ahead in the 75th minute

Wigan had trailed from the fifth minute, when Rogers scored his first after good work from Wayne Bartrim and Michael Eagar, and Castleford's coach Graham Steadman was not exaggerating when he said his team should have been 20 points ahead by half-time.

Instead they led only 6-4 after Farrell and Julian O'Neill each kicked a penalty, and two more goals from the Australian stand-off in the 50th and 55th minute had Wigan narrowly ahead, even without a try.

Castleford pulled level again with Bartrim's second goal after Danny Tickle was penalised for holding down, then Danny Orr nudged them 9-8 ahead with a 67th-minute drop-goal. But three minutes later Adrian Lam was impeded as he chased his own kick and O'Neill's fourth simple goal had Wigan 10-9 ahead again, until unlikely passes from Thackray and Wayne Godwin allowed the tall, lean Rogers, wandering well away from his left wing, to stretch over near the posts.

Bartrim converted, then after Johnson's dismissal Waine Pryce scored the Tigers' third try to complete only their third win in 17 Super League games against Wigan, and the first since Raper left the Jungle for the JJB two years ago.

"I enjoyed that," said Graham Steadman, Raper's former assistant who succeeded him in May 2000. "I've talked about breaking the monopoly of the top four this season. I honestly believe we can do that."

Orr probed constantly for Cas, and the Australian second-row Dale Fritz tackled ferociously, but the most eyecatching performance came from Tommy Saxton, a tall full-back who starred in the England under-19 team which beat the Australian Schoolboys last autumn.

After coming on early when Mitch Healey suffered a hamstring injury, Saxton showed class and composure to deal with a variety of Wigan kicks, and had the added benefit of watching a masterclass in full-back play at the other end from Kris Radlinski, who pulled off two try-saving tackles to keep his team in the game.

In the end, though, Radlinski was let down by the ill-discipline of his team-mates - with Terry Newton, the Great Britain hooker, a far worse offender than the unfortunate Johnson.

Castleford Tigers: Lennon; Pryce, Gibson, Eagar, Rogers; Orr, Healey; Sykes, Bartrim,

Lynch, Fritz, Smith, Harland. Substitutes: Jackson, Thackray, Godwin, Saxton.

Wigan Warriors : Radlinski; Carney, Johnson, Hodgson, Ainscough; O'Neill, Lam; C Smith, Newton, Sculthorpe, Farrell, Cassidy, O'Loughlin. Substitutes: Tickle, M Smith, Aspinwall, Wild.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).