Castleford stole a march on their rivals for a top-four spot with a comfortable 42-14 victory over lowly Hull KR in their rearranged Betfred Super League fixture at KCOM Craven Park.
Rookie winger Kieran Gill, fresh from signing a new contract for 2019, scored two of the Tigers' eight tries on his first appearance of the season as he helped his team reclaim fourth place in the table with another game in hand.
Castleford coach Daryl Powell told his players to toughen up after their crushing home defeat by St Helens and he will be delighted with their response as they brought Rovers crashing back to earth following their triumph over Wigan.
Rovers, who have not beaten Castleford at home for five years, never recovered from the shock of conceding four tries in the first 18 minutes and a 12th defeat of the season leaves them entrenched in the bottom four.
Tigers hooker Paul McShane was hugely impressive on his 200th Super League appearance while loose forward Adam Milner caught the eye on his 200th game for Castleford and Greg Eden made a tryscoring comeback on his 100th Super League appearance.
Meanwhile, in Friday's other rugby league clash, Leeds Rhinos booked their place in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-finals with a 52-22 victory over Leigh.
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