Castleford Tigers chief reveals nightmare 13-hour travel to Toulouse as RFL asked to look at logistics

Castleford Tigers’ director of rugby Chris Chester has reflected on a nightmare journey to Toulouse and it’s impact on the club’s performance.

Eager to underline the fact that travel plans were not an excuse for the Tigers’ poor showing in their 24-12 loss to the French side, Chester marked it down as something to learn from and even suggested that the RFL may need to look at the logistics.

With no direct flights from Manchester to Toulouse, Castleford ended up flying via Munich on the way in for a total travel time of 13 hours thanks to delays in the German airport.

That’s obviously less than ideal preparation on the day before a game and Chester has admitted it’s something to learn from, though it will be a lesson they employ in 2027 unless the Tigers match Toulouse away in the play-offs.

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Chris Chester “extremely confident” in Castleford Tigers despite early defeats

Speaking on the club’s YouTube channel, Chester said: “There’s lots of things to learn from that Toulouse game and just looking at some of the decisions I made in terms of how we traveled, 13 hours the day before a game isn’t ideal and a 12-and-a-half hour trip back home.

“One was via Munich and the other via Frankfurt and if I had my time again, I probably wouldn’t have chosen that travel so we can all hold our hands up a bit but we don’t use that as an excuse.”

He did admit that it’s a logistical matter that the club can improve upon before stating that the RFL may also need to look at it.

Chester said: “It’s probably something I needed to go better in terms of the logistics but unfortunately at this time of the year, and it’s probably something for the RFL to look at, but there’s no direct flights from Manchester to Toulouse.

“The trip that we chose was the trip that we thought was going to take the least amount of time but there were some delays at Munich airport.”

Despite those logistical issues, it was understandably the performance that most disappointed Chester but he explained that there is plenty of reasons for optimism for the season and for Friday’s game against Huddersfield Giants.

“We’re disappointed with the position that we find ourselves in but we’re certainly not losing any faith. This is a new team, it’s a new coach and these things take time.

“The whole weekend wasn’t great for a number of reasons with the main reason the result and the performance but I’m extremely confident in the coach and our loyal fanbase, and we’re going to give them a performance to shout about. I look forward to seeing everybody down here at home to Huddersfield.”