Exciting half-back Sam Tomkins grabbed his first engage Super League hat-trick as Wigan made sure of their place in the play-offs.

The fleet-footed 20-year-old demonstrated his opportunism and eye for an opening to set another remarkable landmark in his first season of Super League.

Tomkins touched down twice in the first half to give his side a 16-8 interval lead and completed his hat-trick on 66 minutes to end a brave fightback by the Tigers before completing his own contribution with a first-ever drop goal.

The win keeps the Warriors in fifth place, improving their chances of a home tie in the play-offs, while Castleford were left needing at least one more win from their last two matches to clinch a top-eight spot.

The Tigers were a shadow of the team that suffered a 76-12 humiliation at Leeds a week ago but they were unable to profit from the weekend defeats of play-off rivals Warrington, Harlequins and Catalans.

Wigan made a dream start with Tomkins' first try after only nine minutes as he picked up a loose ball on halfway after - not for the first time - Castleford's passing went astray and showed a clean pair of heels to the covering Ryan McGoldrick for his 12th try of the season.

Pat Richards was wide with the conversion attempt but found the target on 22 minutes when scrum-half Thomas Leuluai took skipper Sean O'Loughlin's pass and twisted and turned out of attempted tackles to touch down for Wigan's second try.

Castleford, who had prop Mitchell Sargent placed on report for a late tackle on Tomkins, had their moments in the first half, particularly through the dangerous Rangi Chase, but lacked the composure to finish off their well crafted moves.

Winger Kirk Dixon was bundled into touch midway through the first half but he proved more adept in the air on 27 minutes when he leapt above Richards to collect Brent Sherwin's high kick to touch down.

Four minutes later, Chase and Sherwin combined sweetly to work the ball out wide for second rower Brett Ferres to score the Tigers' second try.

Joe Westerman failed with both difficult conversion attempts and Wigan struck again just before the break when Tomkins demonstrated exceptional footwork to jink through the Castleford defence for a superb solo try and Richards' second goal put the visitors 16-8 ahead.

Leuluai then grabbed his second try, forcing his way over from dummy half four minutes into the second half, as the Warriors established a healthy 14-point lead.

But Castleford, who went close through winger Michael Wainwright early in the second half, found their scoring touch with two tries in an eight-minute burst to close the gap to just two points.

Dixon again outjumped Richards to the high ball and sent substitute Dean Widders over before taking Ryan McGoldrick's pass and score his second try.

The Tigers then drew level through Westerman's penalty goal but that was the signal for Tomkins to take centre stage as he restored Wigan's lead on 66 minutes with another mazy run which completed his hat-trick.

Richards kicked his fourth goal and Tomkins made sure of the points with a drop goal, although Castleford had the final say with Michael Shenton's last-minute consolation try.