Matterson hails Chase control

Castleford coach Terry Matterson praised stand-off Rangi Chase after the talented New Zealander gave another eye-catching display in an impressive 52-20 home win against Salford City Reds.

Chase was involved in all Castleford's best work as the Tigers regained top spot in the Engage Super League with their seventh win in eight matches.

"Rangi is playing as well as I've seen him play," said Matterson. "I like the way he is playing with a lot of control. We know he's got his bag of tricks but he is also getting us round the field and he is not overplaying. He's worked really hard on being a team player and I couldn't ask for anything more. I thought his defence was a big improvement as well."

Kirk Dixon, who was switched to centre in place of suspended Willie Isa, was also a major contributor with a try and eight goals from nine kicks as the Tigers maintained their perfect home record this season. Winger Nick Youngquest and centre Joe Arundel each scoring a brace of tries.

Matterson said: "Kirk hasn't played at centre for about four years. He has caught a bit of flak at different times over his goalkicking but he has worked hard on it and his kicking today was outstanding. It makes a big difference when you are getting six points all the time from tries.

"We played some good rugby. I wasn't too concerned when Salford led 10-6 in the first-half. I wanted to see how our guys reacted and they reacted in the right way and scored some wonderful tries."

But Matterson is refusing to get carried away by Castleford's great start to the season.

"I know what's coming down the track and it's going to really test us over the Easter period," he said.

"But we haven't been talking about that. We've just been talking about each game and we are focusing on Friday's game against Harlequins. They are a tough team and will look to bounce back after losing at Wakefield.

"We didn't set any pre-season targets. We brought in so many players and I didn't really know what to set."