Castleford Tigers comfortably beat Wigan Warriors 38-20 to cement their status as the team to beat in Super League.

18-year-old Jake Trueman scored a hat-trick on his full senior debut as Daryl Powell's men had to cope without talismanic figure Luke Gale after his appendix surgery.

Elsewhere, Greg Minikin grounded twice, while Michael Shenton and a 41st try of the season from Greg Eden proved enough to give the Tigers victory, with the Warriors' play-off hopes now hanging by a thread.

Tom Davies, Sam Tomkins and Thomas Leuluai gave Wigan a smidgeon of hope but it was never enough to stop Castleford winning their fifth successive league game and they are now 12 points clear after winning 25 of their 29 league games.

Wigan must now win away at Wakefield Trinity next Saturday to stand any chance of making the play-offs.