Castleford Tigers met the Leeds Rhinos in a huge game on BBC Two this afternoon. The Tigers came into the game in confident mood after an improved run of form. However, they succumbed to a meek defeat against the Rhinos, losing 32-4.
The result leaves Castleford in a mini league of their own within Super League, two points adrift of Leigh Leopards ahead of them and five points ahead of London Broncos and Hull FC in the bottom two. Head coach, Craig Lingard was critical of his players in the aftermath of the game, accusing his players of taking the easy way out too often.
The Tigers now face a difficult run of fixtures, with back-to-back home games against Wigan Warriors and Hull KR, before a trip to St Helens at the beginning of July. If the sides below them can pick up a win, the Tigers could be back in the mix for the bottom spot by the time their next game against London comes around after the Saints game.
Quiz: Can you name all these former Castleford Tigers players?
Castleford Tigers players “don’t deserve to wear the badge”
Credit: Imago Images
The result, and more importantly the performance, against Leeds has not gone down well with Castleford’s fans. They have taken to social media in force to voice their frustrations with the club, with one fan describing the performance as “utter garbage”.
Utter garbage
— Ross (@WLegend1978) June 1, 2024
Any chance of some proper SL players and a SL coach ?
— jonny haigh (@jonny120305) June 1, 2024
Another fan called for Craig Lingard to be sacked, stating, “Sack him, we need to bring some standards to this club now.”
Sack him, we need to bring some standards to this club now
— Sully (@kieransull123) June 1, 2024
Full of schoolboy errors, umpteen missed tackles and desperately need some size in the front row. 🫨
— John (@jcw_72) June 1, 2024
Another accused the players of lacking effort. They wrote “Can’t even be arsed to get up for this game, don’t deserve to wear [the] badge”.
Can’t even be arsed to get up for this game, don’t deserve to wear badge
— Jack Westmoreland (@SirJackWest) June 1, 2024
However, the reaction was not universally negative. Some fans praised Cain Robb for his energetic performance in the game.
Make cain robb captain only one that showed any balls
— Brian campy (@BCampy56222) June 1, 2024
shocking performance. Only positive is how good is cain robb the lad puts his body on line against people double size of him
— Elliot Williamson (@ElliotW7878) June 1, 2024
Where do Castleford go from here?
Credit: Imago Images
In truth, it is difficult to see where Castleford find any immediate relief from their struggles. With a difficult run of fixtures and no sign of a flood of inbound transfers to lift the squad, things may get worse for Tigers fans before they get better.
Earlier in the week, Lingard spoke of how long he expected Castleford to struggle for, stating he did not expect the Tigers to be challenging for silverware any time soon.
“If players want to be winning something over the next 12 months, it’s not going to be a Castleford. We’re not going to be challenging the top end of the table at Castleford, realistically.”
He also stated his belief that the transfer market was over-inflated, and that it made it difficult for the club to bring in new players. As things stand, Castleford look set for a bumpy ride.
