Castleford Tigers head coach Ryan Carr watched his side win in what was his first competitive fixture in charge though it wasn’t easy with Championship side Doncaster presenting a tough test.
After the lop-sided scorelines of Friday night, there was perhaps surprise when Castleford didn’t blow Doncaster away, instead winning just 14-0 but the Tigers boss was very happy with what he saw.
Tries in each half from Joe Stimson and Blake Taaffe were enough to see Castleford progress to the fourth round, avoiding the fate of a third round exit as they suffered in 2025.
Speaking on the club’s social media channels post-match, Carr assessed the match, welcoming the physical and tight nature of the game with his side ultimately proving that they can see out such matches.
The Australian said: “A really tough game, a tough game in tough conditions where both teams went at each other for the full 80.
“I was really impressed with the physicality of the game. It was a proper old-school rugby league hit out for us.”
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Castleford Tigers boss impressed with first win
Whilst many have questioned the lack of a blow-out score, as was the case in Friday’s matches, Carr was very positive.
“I’m really pleased with the result,” he said, adding: “We came here to win and obviously we achieved that and we picked up a lot of learnings along the way, like we did in that previous game.”
Even more important was the fact that the win did not come at an injury cost, as had been the case for Hull FC on Friday night, with Carr fielding a question about whether any players had come through with issues.
He responded: “Not that I know of as yet. Hopefully we get through clean, that was important for us to get through healthy but that’s the first full hit out for most of the guys as they only played half the game in our one pre-season fixture. To get through 80 minutes was good for those boys moving forward.”
As for why he was so happy, he pointed to the huge improvement in defensive resilience and ability compared to their pre-season loss to St Helens with the Tigers regularly keeping Doncaster out from good ball scenarios.
Carr explained: “We came here today and wanted to defend well, we weren’t happy with how we defended in the St Helens fixture, albeit a pre-season game with a lot of changes. But we’ve been working hard on that side of our game and today to keep a really good team to zero is something to be proud of.”
As for their opponents, he paid huge credit: “I can’t speak highly enough of Doncaster and what they did today. They were unreal and they’ve got a really good season ahead of them in the Championship. We were fortunate to come here and get the win and get into the next round of the Challenge Cup.”
Castleford Tigers will learn their fourth round opponents on Monday night with details of the draw available here.
Leeds Rhinos’ latest transfer pursuit, Hull FC new boy assessed and potential cup ‘upsets’ – Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show here.
