Castleford Tigers went from 10-6 up and with a man advantage at the 25-minute mark of their derby clash with Wakefield Trinity to a 52-16 defeat, a result that has drawn huge criticism from pundits Jon Wilkin, Sam Tomkins and Brian Carney.
Matty Storton was shown a red card in the 23rd minute when the scores were 6-6 with Castleford then capitalising and scoring a second try as it looked like the Tigers could spring an upset and land a second massive win in two weeks.
However, they’d ship 46 unanswered points before scoring a 76th minute consolation try in a performance that head coach Ryan Carr struggled to explain.
Sky Sports presenter Brian Carney, speaking before Carr’s presser, made a similar point as he highlighted just how consistently inconsistent Castleford are.
Reacting to the scoreline on Friday night, Carney said: “We’ve said it many times, standing together, covering Castleford games, or seeing the results come through, Ryan Carr has absolutely no idea, no idea what is going to come from his side, definitely from one week to the next, almost from one minute to the next in the game.”
Sam Tomkins agreed, adding: “We saw the best of Castleford last week, beating Leeds, and I thought we were going to see a Cas side go and have a great performance.
“To be one man up and in control, 10-6 at one point, and then to ship in that many points, that’s scary. I don’t really know what a coach would do to review that.”
Castleford Tigers ‘just not a good side’
Ryan Carr will have to somehow review as the Tigers have a tough home game against Warrington Wolves coming up, though given their nature of turning up unexpectedly, they could well win it.
Jon Wilkin gave an honest assessment, quipping: “I was going to say that they’re rocks are diamonds, but they’re not, are they? They’re just rocks or slightly shinier rocks.”
Brian Carney was perhaps more honest in his verdict as he noted the Tigers’ wins over Wigan Warriors, St Helens and Leeds Rhinos, putting them simply down to ‘freak results’
Carney suggested: “Maybe what it is, they’re just not a good side that have had three freak results.”
Wilkin would agree, outlining Castleford’s game plan as being one where they wait for team’s to have an off day.
He suggested: “I think they’re waiting for somebody to have a shocker against them, and then they can beat you but in Super League, is that a recipe to be good? It’s not. You’re just waiting for somebody to be bad, and Leeds were bad against them.”
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Twelve man Trinity complete 2026 league treble over Tigers on damaging night at Belle Vue 😔#COYF #DerbyDay #RivalsRound #SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/AwvFfeVIbJ
— Castleford Tigers (@CTRLFC) July 24, 2026
