Powell laments ‘nonsensical’ refereeing decision

Castleford head coach Daryl Powell was again left frustrated by referees as his side fell to a 32-28 defeat at the hands of Hull FC.

The Tigers boss last week claimed the standard of officiating in Super League ‘was not good enough’ and called for a ‘significant improvement’, comments which led to a warning letter from head of referees Steve Ganson.

However Powell was left questioning the officials again on Thursday night after Jordan Johnstone’s first-half try was allowed to stand, this despite a scuffle in back play creating huge space for the Hull hooker to score.

Reflecting on the key moment, Powell said: “There was some pressure on the inside defensively that was taken offence to.

“Jacques O’Neill then gets pulled to ground and that impacted then on a number of players coming together.

“If the aggressor would have been a Castleford player, in terms of creating the melee, then I would have agreed with the try, but he was not.

“He was clearly pulled to the ground. It was a nonsensical try really. It did not make any sense at all.

“It was clearly a flash point in the game, but I think the decision was wrong.”

The try eventually proved decisive as the Tigers fell to a four-point defeat, a result that effectively ends their season with the play-offs looking out of reach.

“You would want your players to always play to the whistle but certain things happen in rugby league that create a coming together of players and that was one of them,” Powell added.

“Jacques O’Neill gets pulled to the floor, he is clearly taken out the game which creates a flash point then.

“That is where a number of players came together, so that should have been chalked off because of what happened to Jacques, but it happened and it is disappointing.”