Castleford Tigers went down 32-12 in a very disappointing performance at the Jungle against Wigan Warriors, who were backing up a Challenge Cup Final victory.
Lee Radford’s men ran into a 12-0 lead inside 25 minutes but failed to score another point as Wigan hit back with 32 unanswered points.
The Tigers looked shellshocked after a yellow card given to Mahe Fonua seemed to derail their fluency as Wigan finally got on the scoresheet with Liam Marshall.
And, after the break, Castleford were hit with an onslaught from which they could not come back from especially considering they lost talisman Gareth O’Brien to a calf injury.
For Radford, it was very disappointing to watch.
“I think I highlighted Wigan about their ability to perform for 80 minutes,” Radford told Channel 4 after the game.
“This is a team and a club that has a reputation to go in there and perform for the whole 80, but our inability to get out of the blocks in the second-half really hurt us.
“They’ve had eight more sets than us because of our inability to aim up in that early second-half.”
To sum how he was feeling, Radford simply added: “I’m deflated.”