Paul Sculthorpe shone as St Helens brushed aside a feeble challenge from bottom placed Castleford.

Sculthorpe, who is on his longest run in the first team for two years after being plagued with injuries, scored two tries as Saints ensured they would remain in top place.

Castleford got off to the worst possible start as they were caught offside from the kick off. From the following set, Matt Gidley wandered through some slack defence giving a sign of things to come.

A perfect pass from Bryn Hargreaves allowed Long to add another try on the 7th minute and Gilmour followed him over shortly after.

Saints were beginning to put on a display, helped by shoddy defence from Castleford, and the crowd were treated to a sensational try as Gardner beat several players as he raced 80 metres to score.

Further tries were added as Clough spun his way over and Flannery also touched down as he powered over.

Wilkin and Meli added two more tries before the break, with Long converting all but one try in the first half, to give a weighty 46-0 score line at the break.

Saints started the second half in the same manner, with Roby scoring after slicing through the defence and rounding the full-back.

The visitor’s defence notably improved in the second-half and they also showed improvement with the ball as Dixon scored down the right as Castleford moved the ball quickly from a scrum to score the first points against Saints for a game and a half.

Shenton continued the mini-revival with a try but Paul Sculthorpe completed his brace and Meli scored his second at the end to ensure that the day was very much St Helen’s, the win coming after plans for a new 18,000 seater stadium were passed for the Challenge Cup Holders.