Head coach Ryan Carr was left fuming after he watched his Castleford Tigers side lose 24-18 to Leigh Leopards with the Australian calling out a number of the refereeing decisions.
After calling out his side at Magic Weekend, even going as far to suggest that some players had given up, he got a massive response from his side but was ultimately left feeling let down by some of the officiating calls.
Jason Qareqare had two tries ruled out despite being given on field with his first adjusted not to be grounded, whilst his second was turned over because of obstruction by Alex Mellor.
Louis Senior was also sent to the sin bin for making contact with the head of David Armstrong, a decision that Carr ridiculed as he explained that he would not know how or what to coach Senior to do in that situation given the fact he had bent his knees and Armstrong was rapidly losing height.
That Senior sin bin came with 15 minutes to go whilst Qareqare’s second disallowed try came just minutes later, meaning the Tigers were denied a grandstand finish to try and win it.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Carr was visibly frustrated and in turn would ask interviewers and commentators Dave Woods and Paul Cooke for their opinions on the game’s key calls.
“We deserved to win that. Period,” Carr bluntly stated to begin his interview.
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Castleford Tigers boss questions key calls in tense post-match interview
Asked about the fact he was seen to be shaking his head as the officials left the field, Carr seemed surprise that anyone would not question some of the officiating.
“What do you reckon, what did you see up there?” he responded, pushing back on Dave Woods before then offering his own assessment.
Regarding the second disallowed try, Carr claimed that forward Alex Mellor got through the line, before asking for opinions and after Paul Cooke claimed Adam Cook had made a meal out the obstruction, Carr again bluntly said: “It’s a try but thanks.”
On a more positive note, he would praise the effort of his side before then tearing into the decision to sin bin Louis Senior.
“Effort was unreal. We tipped a lot into that,” Carr explained.
“We had 12 men. Remember, we only had 12 men for a guy who tripped into a guy. I don’t know where Lewis Senior’s meant to go. I don’t, I actually can’t tell him as a coach what to do to not. What, what’s he meant to do? He’s six foot and he bent his knees down really low. Come on!”
Just before walking off, Carr was asked about the pre-game warm-up to Krystian Mapapalangi and how that impacted his side, leading to Carr confirming yet another injury.
“Maps come off with an injury, so that was literally in warm-up,” he confirmed.
“We has to move Semi (Valemei) off the right wing where he trained all week and Mikaele (Ravalawa) come in and obviously caused a bit of drama on our edges there.
“You could tell our edges were getting met a little bit there with people out of position in particular there but we lost Jordan Lane too to a hip flexor early in the second half.
“So yeah, with the HIAs and Jordan going off hurt so we were down on troops but they competed really hard and I’m just, I’m all good.”
