Wigan Warriors book spot in Challenge Cup semi-finals with dominant victory over battered Castleford Tigers

The 20-time cup winners ran in 12 tries against a battered Castleford outfit, including four for in-form winger Liam Marshall.

Tigers boss Craig Lingard only managed to name a 19-man squad ahead of the quarter-final tie, with many of his key players missing through injury.

The Warriors meanwhile welcomed back England international forward Tyler Dupree following his one-match suspension.

Academy product Marshall opened the scoring on four minutes and soon after enjoyed a brace inside the opening 20, with Brad O’Neill and Bevan French also crossing for an early 22-0 lead.

Centre Adam Keighran then made it tries in consecutive weeks, flying free out-wide thanks to a firing pass from full-back Jai Field with Smith converting four from the opening five tries.

Castleford came closest to scoring their opener through winger Innes Senior, who raced away 80 metres only to be tracked down by duo French and Marshall.

The ex-Huddersfield winger got his score eventually though just before the break, grounding Jack Broadbent’s kick to the corner for a 28-6 score.

In the major blow of the afternoon, veteran back-rower Willie Isa suffered what looked to be a serious injury to his left leg and was stretchered from the field with oxygen at the half hour mark.

The scoring resumed quickly in the second 40, with Abbas Miski crossing untouched in the corner to extend the lead to 32-6 before interchange hooker Kruise Leeming added his fourth in Wigan colours.

Marshall then made it back-to-back solo points, completing his hat-trick inside 50 minutes before adding his fourth thanks to a cutout pass from stand-off French.

Jake Wardle then got in on the scoring action, racing through a gap from the scrum for an easy score as Castleford fans headed to the exit with a 50-6 scoreline.

And it didn’t end there with Lebanon international Miski crossing for his second on 69 minutes, followed by a final try for prop Dupree for a 60-6 result, with Harry Smith recording a 50% record from the boot with six successful kicks from 12.