Lee Radford explains why Castleford Tigers lost to Huddersfield Giants despite stunning comeback

Castleford Tigers went down 36-24 away at Huddersfield Giants this afternoon.

The John Smith’s Stadium was treated to a real spectacle – if you are a neutral that is – with ten tries, four yellow cards and a great deal of incredible see-saw moments.

For Castleford boss Lee Radford, however, the damage had been done in the first-half when the Tigers trailed 18-0 at half-time, despite the Tigers leading 24-18 at one stage in the second forty minutes.

“We were reluctant to be stiff defensively in the first-half and that will continue to kill us unless we can fix that,” Radford said.

“The swings in the game must mean it is great to watch as a neutral but the knock-off effect is big.

“We need to learn how to defend with 11 or 12 men because that (getting yellow cards) keeps happening.

“I said the same thing before the game started, this game is about territory and field position and at one point in that first-half, they had the ball for nine sets consecutively and unfortunately that blew us out at the end of the game.”

Radford revealed just he said at the break to try and inspire his troops to improve in the second-half.

“We knew we needed to score first after half-time and thankfully how we started with our defensive set gave us the opportunity to do that.”