Castleford Tigers boss Ryan Carr has assessed his sides 50-6 defeat to Hull KR this evening, with the boss revealing that, despite the scoreline, there are still some things they can take from that game.
The Tigers were kept scoreless until the very last play of the game, where star centre Krystian Mapapalangi crossed for a consolation try as he was first to react to a kick into the in-goal area.
A poor start saw Castleford ship 34 points in the first half, but an improved second half showing saw them concede less tries, make less errors and have more field position in KR territory.
Of course, the only stat that matters is the full time scoreline, but Carr believes he saw glimpses of positives that he can use to help the side build going forward.
Assessing the game in a post-match interview with Sky Sports, he said: “They [Hull KR]’re a good outfit. They played really well. I thought tonight we did things a lot better than what we did last week in terms of, I thought we tackled okay, to be fair.
“I know it it doesn’t sound like that looking at the scoreboard, but when you conceed six tries on fifth tackle and two of those, we drop a kick in the in-goal and they put their hands on the ball.
“I actually took some things out of that game, which we can build off the back of.”
One thing that Castleford are sincerely struggling with at the minute is confidence, and their ability to bounce back when games don’t go their way.
After a 34-0 half-time scoreline, plenty expected the Tigers to concede a cricket score, given their previous efforts in games this season, but to their credit the second 40 was much better than their opening one.
“At the moment, we’re down on confidence and that happens when you’re not winning games and it feels like everything’s coming over you at the same time,” Carr explained.
“But, I felt like we did fight it up in the second half. It was 16-6 in the second half and one of those we dropped the ball in the in-goal where they come and put their hands on it.
“There was two tries off kicks there and like I said, my most disappointing part of tonight was the six tries on fifth tackle. I feel like if we stop them you give yourself a chance.”
Castleford Tigers captain suffers injury in Hull KR defeat
In more worrying news for the club, Alex Mellor looks to have picked up a hamstring injury, after he left the field in the second half and didn’t return.
Sam Hall and Brock Greacen both went for HIA’s, and whilst Hall passed his, Greacen didn’t return, but he is not expected to miss any matches due to the Challenge Cup break.
The Tigers had four debutants in their side today, one of which was hooker Brad Dwyer, who joined the club on loan from Championship side Salford.
Carr praised the former Leeds and Warrington man’s efforts after just one training session prior to taking to the field.
With games coming against St Helens, Leigh and Catalans away all in their next five, the road doesn’t get any easier for Castleford, but Carr is confident he can lift his side out of the rut they are currently facing.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel like we could fight through it,” he said.
“I‘m not gonna stop fighting. I’m asking them to fight so that’s what I’m gonna do and we’re gonna get through this.
“It’s tough right now and it hurts right now for the players, for our club, our employees, our fans. It hurts for us as a town, but we’ve got to work our way through it and the only way out of it through hard work.”
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