Castleford Tigers head coach Craig Lingard has labelled his side “unrecognisable” from the one which started the season after their third-straight victory this weekend.
The Tigers heading into the weekend off the back of a two victories – an oustranding victory against St Helens and a slightly more ropey victory against London Broncos.
Their opponents, Catalans Dragons, have been up-and-down all season, but had themselves won three-in-a-row, against Huddersfield Giants, Hull KR and Salford Red Devils.
After an incredible start, going 18-0 up, they were pegged back to 18-all, but a late Tex Hoy try ensured they came away with the points at Wheldon Road.
At the start of the campaign, Castleford had to wait seven games for their first win of the season, and were in the bottom two of the table for much of the first few months.
Now, however, these three wins, as well as good performances against Wigan Warriors and Hull KR in narrow defeats, mean they look like a completely different side.
Craig Lingard praises “unrecognisable” Castleford Tigers
Credit: Imago Images
Following the game, Craig Lingard praised the team in his post-match press conference, saying: “I think we’re unrecognisable as a team from where we started the season. We knew it was going to be a difficult long process and we hoped that days like this would come, we hoped that days like the victory away against St Helens would come but we weren’t sure if it would or not.
“But we believed in the process that we’d started at the start of the season and the players have bought into it and since the halfway point of the season, I think the players have really bought in 100% about what we’re wanting and what we’re looking for.”
The last five games had a certain know-how and a determination from the Castleford Tigers side, and Lingard said: “The last five games we’ve just shown that the rewards are there for that effort and it’s now three wins on the bounce. I don’t know when the last time it was three wins on the bounce.
“Hopefully we can maintain this now between now and the end of the season. We just need to get our own house in order and whatever happens with those other teams around us, we can’t control that, we can just control what we do.”
