Powell “unsure” about yellow cards and has his say on semi-final draw

Daryl Powell “unsure” about the two sin-bins his side sustained in their Challenge Cup win over Salford Red Devils.

The Castleford Tigers had both Gareth O’Brien and Liam Watts sin-binned during the last 15 minutes of the game, overlapping each other for a full two minutes of game play.

This left the Tigers defending with 11 men at one stage but they stood firm and did enough to grind out another golden point extra-time win thanks to a field-goal from O’Brien.

Reflecting on the yellow cards, Powell said, “I am not sure about both of our sin-binnings. Liam Watts’ challenge is a little bit late but it is not a shoulder charge.

“I thought it was ‘milked’ a bit. I did not think there was much in that but you do not want players to go in late on blokes who kick or pass the ball so the consistency of that will be interesting.

“As for Gareth O’Brien’s, an old coach of mine, Graham Murray used to say ‘take the picket out when you kick the ball too hard’ and that ball took a picket out so, again, I am not sure.

“I did not have a massive argument with either of them, apart from the fact it put us under massive pressure and I think Liam will learn from that.

“I think Gareth instinctively would do the same again so there is a bit of a lesson there, it put us under pressure but the boys were immense defensively to keep Salford out over that period.”

The Tigers edged Salford to book a Challenge Cup semi-final against the Warrington Wolves – Powell’s future club. It’s the first time the Tigers have reached this stage since 2014.

Sharing his thoughts on the draw, Powell added “I thought about it before the game.

“Steve Mills told me just after half-time that we drew Warrington.

“It will be an interesting game. They are going pretty well at the moment. They have only lost to us and we play them two weeks before the semi-final so it will be an interesting period for us.”