St Helens ended the Super League season as they began it seven months earlier with a comprehensive home win over Castleford.

It was not as emphatic as the 46-6 rout at the Totally Wicked Stadium in February but the 26-0 margin was comfortable enough for the leaders, who warmed up nicely for their semi-final against Warrington next Thursday.

Forward Matty Lees scored his first try for the club and full-back Ben Barba, whose end-of-season departure was confirmed this week, touched down twice to take his final tally in the league campaign to 28.

After winning their previous five matches, the Tigers had high hopes of gaining a first away win over Saints in the summer era.

But coach Daryl Powell will be concerned over their defensive lapses as well as the lack of a cutting edge in attack as they were nilled for the first time for more than three years.

Both sides were under-strength with a eye on next week’s semi-finals and they could yet meet in the Grand Final in a fortnight’s time, although Castleford will have to find some improvement when they go to Wigan.

It was routine for the home side from the moment Lees smashed his way through a hole in the Castleford defence for the opening try after eight minutes.

Second-rower Jesse Sene-Lefao twice went close for the Tigers but they suffered a blow midway through the first half when Joe Wardle was sin-binned for holding down Saints winger Tom Makinson following a counter-attacking break.

The home side made the extra man count when prop Luke Douglas offloaded from the tackle to get loose forward Morgan Knowles racing away for their second try.

And there was no way back for Castleford when Barba finished off a long-range break by speedy winger Regan Grace for another try five minutes before half-time.

Danny Richardson converted all three touchdowns to make it 18-0 and, although he was wide with a drop-goal attempt on the stroke of half-time, he made amends with a penalty two minutes into the second half.

The Castleford defence opened invitingly once more after 44 minutes to enable Barba to grab his second try, this time from close range, and Richardson’s fifth goal made it 26-0.

Powell sent on the dangerous Quentin Laulu-Togagae in an effort to pep up his side’s attack but with little effect and Saints, too, went into their shell as the regular season petered out tamely in a scoreless final quarter.

St Helens coach Justin Holbrook took the opportunity to rest Barba for the last 15 minutes and he left to rapturous applause as he gets ready for the business end to his Super League career.